Where are the winners? These NC counties sold the most winning lottery tickets in 2023

The odds of winning the lottery are pretty slim, but some parts of North Carolina have had more lucky winners than others.

Last year, more than $4.3 billion was spent on lottery tickets in North Carolina last year, The Charlotte Observer previously reported.

Not every county in the state had winning lottery tickets of $100,000 or more, but most did. According to data from The N.C. Education Lottery, most of the winning tickets were sold in Mecklenburg County, Wake County and Guilford County, with some winning up to $3 million dollars.

Here’s a breakdown of how many winning tickets of $100,000 or more were sold during the last fiscal year across the state:

• Alamance County: 9

• Alexander County: 1

• Anson County: 1

• Beaufort County: 2

• Bladen County 1

• Brunswick County: 10

• Buncombe County: 8

• Cabarrus County: 8

• Caldwell County: 2

• Carteret County: 6

• Caswell County: 1

• Catawba County: 3

• Chatham County: 3

• Cherokee County: 1

• Cleveland County: 6

• Columbus County: 4

• Craven County: 6

• Cumberland County: 21

• Currituck County: 1

• Dare County: 1

• Davidson County: 3

• Davie County: 1

• Duplin County: 4

• Durham County: 7

• Edgecombe: 1

• Forsyth: 12

• Franklin County: 1

• Gaston County: 16

• Granville County: 7

• Guilford County: 28

• Halifax County: 4

• Harnett County: 1

• Haywood County: 2

• Henderson County: 5

• Hertford County: 1

• Hoke County: 2

• Iredell County: 6

• Jackson County: 1

• Johnston County: 6

• Lee County: 2

• Lenoir County: 2

• Lincoln County: 5

• Macon County: 1

• Madison County: 2

• McDowell County: 2

• Mecklenburg County: 30

• Montgomery County: 1

• Moore County: 5

• Nash County: 10

• New Hanover County: 1

• Northampton County: 1

• Onslow County: 2

• Orange County: 3

• Pitt County: 7

• Polk County: 1

• Randolph County: 3

• Richmond County: 2

• Robeson County: 1

• Rockingham County: 3

• Rowan County: 7

• Rutherford County: 1

• Scotland County: 2

• Stanly County: 1

• Surry County: 2

• Transylvania County: 1

• Union County: 7

• Vance County: 1

• Wake County: 30

• Washington County: 1

• Watauga County: 1

• Wayne County: 8

• Wilkes County: 1

• Wilson County: 3

This story was originally published January 11, 2024 at 8:00 AM with the headline "Where are the winners? These NC counties sold the most winning lottery tickets in 2023."

Chyna Blackmon

The Charlotte Observer

Chyna Blackmon was a service journalism reporter for The Charlotte Observer. A native of the Carolinas, she grew up in Columbia, SC, and graduated from Queens University of Charlotte. She’s also worked in local television news in Charlotte, NC, and Richmond, VA. Support my work with a digital subscription