North Carolina Resident Celebrates Phenomenal Lottery Win

Winning money would be welcome anytime. But this North Carolina resident celebrates phenomenal lottery win just in time.

Andrew Fidler lives in Raleigh and according to a press release from the North Carolina Education Lottery, just won a whopping $250,000. He says in the press release, “This is phenomenal timing “We are currently looking at houses right now.I was just feeling extremely lucky". Something tells me he won't have any problem with that down payment.

Here's how it happened according to the NCEL press release," Fidler bought his $3 ticket using Online Play. He matched the numbers on four white balls and the red Powerball to win $50,000. Because he bought a Power Play ticket, his prize grew to $250,000 when the 5X multiplier hit".

Fidler says he is both excited and exhausted and just generally in disbelief. He arrived at lottery headquarters to retrieve his prize. After federal and state taxes were taken out, Andrew went home with $178,751. A very hefty sum for a young man buying a house.

The Powerball jackpot is up to $176 million. And after taxes that comes out to about $89 million.

There are some states that are luckier than others. There is no doubt about it. North Carolina made the list of 15 lucky states in the United States, according to OLBG. Everyone has fantasized about winning the lottery, whether it's the Mega Millions or the Powerball. Whether you're planning a lavish vacation, buying a house, treating a loved one, giving to charity, or all of the above, when we buy a ticket we always have a little bit of hope and our imaginations go wild when we hear about the unclaimed winning ticket...

When it comes to winning big on the lottery, which states are the luckiest? To determine where in America has the greatest likelihood of winning the big bucks, OLBG analyzed all lottery winners in the U.S. with a jackpot of $300 million or more. You can see the top 15 states below.

California was ranked 12th luckiest state despite having the highest number of big lottery winners, primarily because the state has such a large population that there are very few lottery winners, and the average winning ticket for a California winner is only $190.5 million.

North Carolina has won a whopping $1.1 billion between both lottery winners, making its average winning ticket $550 million, the highest in the country. As a result of its higher population, North Carolina didn't quite capture the title by itself, with a lower percentage of its population winning than New Hampshire.

In terms of lottery jackpot winners, New Hampshire and North Carolina share the gold for the luckiest states. Residents in New Hampshire have won a total of $693.7 million, which is an average of $346.85 million per winning ticket. As one of the states with the highest percentage of people who have won over $300 million, New Hampshire has the third smallest population.

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