GREENSBORO, N.C. — So, you didn't win the $1 Billion Powerball drawing. You have lots of company. In North Carolina, the biggest prize was $50,000. Three tickets matched four numbers and the Powerball. Several hundred North Carolinians won $100 or $200, but the majority of folks won less than $10.
Now, if you're looking for a lottery win that is more of a possibility. You might try a scratch-off ticket. The NC Education Lottery posts the value of the prizes for each scratch-off game and how many remaining winners are out there. You can scroll down through the entire list of scratch-offs to see which ones look the best to you.
The one with the biggest prize money and the most remaining tickets that we found is the Millionaire Maker. Right now, there are 14 tickets with a million-dollar prize floating around the state. Most other games with that kind of prize money have less than three out there.
It's called the North Carolina Education Lottery, so no matter what, any win is a win for our schools, right? Here's how it shakes out. for every $2 spent on a lottery ticket through the North Carolina Educational Lottery, the state says about sixty cents will end up going to schools. That's what's left over after prizes are paid out and administrative costs.
What does that look like in dollars and cents to our local schools? In total, $929 million for schools in our state. For example, Guilford County's share of that was $33 Million last year. Keep in mind, the school system's budget is just under a Billion dollars ($999,705,748.) so lottery money does not cover the costs.
NC state lawmakers direct how lottery money is spent. For each school system that gets money, it's mandated half the money goes to school construction, and a third is used for staffing.