Persistence Pays Off to Tune of $2m for Online Powerball Player

Powerball is one of the most played lottery games in the US with players trying their luck for jackpots from a multi-tiered prize board twice weekly. The option of playing from a retailer is offered alongside the lottery’s website and Chao Sun, an aerospace design engineer has recently scooped a life-changing prize from doing just that – playing online!

Sun, who has been playing the same set of numbers since trying his luck, scored a $2million Powerball prize, but like most, he didn’t realise he’d won straightaway! Speaking to the lottery, the winner said it was “a big shock”, well naturally it would be!

Purchasing his ticket using the ‘online pay’ feature on the website, he chose to play his own set of numbers which comprise of significant birth dates and a lunar calendar year, and thanks to this (and a little help from lady luck), his numbers came up trumps! The morning after the drawing, Sun checked his emails to find two from the lottery; “I saw the second one and it means I won something. I knew I won something but not sure how much.” 

App-Solutely Fantastic!

Logging into the NC Lottery Official mobile app to check, he was stunned to see it saying he was now a millionaire! “I see it says $2 million and I’m thinking, ‘Is this right?’. Then I go back to check my numbers again and I go, ‘Oh, it is!’” His stake of $3 matched the five white balls drawn; 08, 12, 19, 47 and 58, beating odds of 1 in 11.6million!

After local federal and state taxation charges, Sun took home a cash sum of $1,415,001.00 after claiming his prize on Friday at the lottery headquarters in Raleigh. Speaking on what he may do with his newfound fortune, Sun said: “I think the first thing my wife is thinking is if the kids want to buy a house or something, we can help. That’s the big thing.”

Powerball offers nine different ways to win in each drawing as well as options to boost your winnings via ‘PowerPlay’ multipliers. Prizes range from $4 to the stated jackpot (the biggest of which was $1.586 billion on January 13^th, 2016), and prizes are awarded based on the number of matching numbers you have on your ticket. Matching the red ball will award a prize of just $4 – which is twice what a single ticket costs, but add PowerPlay of 2x, 3x, 4x, 5x or 10x to boost your winnings by their stated multipliers!

Powerball Info:

• Powerball costs $2 per play.
• Select five numbers from 1 to 69 for the white balls; then select one number from 1 to 26 for the red Powerball.
• Choose your numbers on a play slip or let the lottery terminal randomly pick your numbers.
• The Powerball jackpot grows until it is won.
• Players win a prize by matching one of the 9 Ways to Win.