Chapel Hill man spends extra $1 playing Powerball and wins huge prize. ‘A fluke’
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Robert Goss won $50,000 by matching four white balls and the red Powerball.
- Goss doubled his prize to $100,000 by spending an extra $1 for the Power Play multiplier.
- After taxes, Goss claimed $72,011 at the North Carolina Education Lottery headquarters.
A Chapel Hill man tried his luck playing Powerball and netted a life-changing prize.
Robert Goss won $50,000 after matching four white balls and the red Powerball in the Wednesday, May 13 drawing, narrowly missing the estimated $70 million jackpot, according to the North Carolina Education Lottery.
He bought the lucky ticket online and spent an extra dollar on the Power Play multiplier, doubling his prize to $100,000.
“This is kind of a fluke thing,” Goss told lottery officials. “But it’s always a good time to win $100,000.”
The winning numbers in the May 13 drawing were 22-31-52-56-67 and red Powerball 15, according to the lottery game’s website. The Power Play multiplier was 2x.
Goss claimed his winnings at NC Education Lottery headquarters Wednesday, May 20, and took home $72,011 after required taxes, officials said.
The Chapel Hill man already has plans for his winnings, including investing and paying bills.
Recent lottery wins
It marks the latest in a string of big lottery wins in the Triangle. In April, a Fast Play ticket sold at a Publix Super Market in Cary won a $1,578,846 jackpot — the largest in the lottery game’s history, The News & Observer reported.
A Raleigh man netted a $1 million windfall in the Merry Million second chance drawing, and before that, a stop at a Johnston County gas station led to a “surreal” $2 million prize for another lucky player in January.
The next Powerball drawing is Saturday, May 23, with an estimated $131 million jackpot.
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 May 22, 2026 at 8:14 AM with the headline "Chapel Hill man spends extra $1 playing Powerball and wins huge prize. ‘A fluke’."