22 Fort Bragg Civilian Employees Split Powerball Jackpot
No, it wasn’t the big one, but 22 civilian employees at Fort Bragg did manage to split a $100,000 Powerball jackpot on April 2.
Neil Ellis, spokesman for the group of communications employees at Fort Bragg, said the group has been playing together for years.
The current “Power Play 22 Team” started within the last five years, but some of the group members have been playing together for over a decade.
“It was a little close to April fool’s so some of them didn’t believe me,” Neil Ellis, a spokesman for the group, said. “I guess they believe me now.”
The group got a $3 Power Play ticket that hit on four white ball numbers and the Powerball to win $50,000. The prize was double to $100,000 when the 2X multiplier hit for that drawing.
The ticket was purchased at the Erwin Lucky Stop on South 13th Street in Erwin.
The group claimed their prize yesterday, splitting the $100,000 prize among the 22 winners. After state and local taxes were taken out, each winner took home $3,225, with Ellis taking home $3,310.
“It’s just a good time,” Ellis said. “We really enjoy it.”
There were no winners of the main Powerball jackpot Monday night, so Wednesday’s estimated jackpot is $302 million, with a cash value of $187 million.
Powerball is one of four lottery games in North Carolina where players have the option of buying their tickets at a retail location or with Online Play through the lottery’s website or with the NC Lottery Official Mobile App. The other games are Mega Millions, Lucky For Life, and Carolina Cash 5.
Ticket sales from draw games like Powerball make it possible for the lottery to raise more than $900 million per year for education. For details on how $22.6 million raised by the lottery made a difference in Cumberland County in 2021, visit www.nclottery.com and click on the “Impact” section.