Powerball player learns he won in middle of night — then ‘barely got any sleep’
A Powerball player learned he won big “in the middle of the night” — then had trouble falling back asleep.
“I’m very exhausted, but also extremely excited,” Andrew Fidler told the North Carolina Education Lottery.
The Raleigh man “barely got any sleep” after he looked at his phone and discovered his Powerball ticket matched all but one number picked in the Sept. 16 drawing. Since he spent an extra dollar on the Power Play option, his prize rose from $50,000 to $250,000, lottery officials wrote online and in a news release.
“I was in disbelief,” Fidler said, per the release. “It was definitely awesome.”
Fidler scored the windfall after he bought his $3 Powerball ticket online. He chose a batch of numbers that have given him luck in the past.
“I was just feeling extremely lucky,” Fidler told officials.
It turns out, his ticket matched five of the six numbers drawn. He narrowly missed the estimated $163 million jackpot but still has a lot to celebrate.
“This is phenomenal timing,” Fidler said in the release. “We are currently looking at houses right now.”
Though Powerball winners have about six months to cash in, Fidler didn’t waste time. He claimed his prize the day after the drawing and kept $178,751 after taxes, officials said.
His win was the largest on a lucky night for North Carolina lottery players. One person hit the jackpot in the Cash 5 jackpot game, and another Powerball ticket sold in the state was worth $50,000, McClatchy News reported.
What to know about Powerball
To score the jackpot in the Powerball, a player must match all five white balls and the red Powerball.
The odds of scoring the jackpot prize are 1 in 292,201,338.
Tickets can be bought on the day of the drawing, but sales times and price vary by state.
Drawings are broadcast Saturdays, Mondays and Wednesdays at 10:59 p.m. ET and can be streamed online.
Powerball is played in 45 states, Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
This story was originally published September 17, 2024 at 3:29 PM with the headline "Powerball player learns he won in middle of night — then ‘barely got any sleep’."
