RALEIGH, N.C. — A North Carolina man who says he based his Powerball entry on a fortune cookie he got from his granddaughter now has a fortune to celebrate.
WRAL in Raleigh reports retired retailer Charles W. Jackson Jr. stepped forward at North Carolina Education Lottery headquarters on Tuesday to claim last weekend's $344.6 million jackpot.
“You play to win, but you never really expect to win the whole dang pot," Jackson said in a statement on the North Carolina Education Lottery website.
Jackson chose the $223 million lump sum payment and said he would donate some of it to several charities and give $1 million to his brother to make good on a deal they made.
Jackson initially thought he had won just $50,000 and was heading to Raleigh to collect, but looked again and saw he'd won a lot more. He also said he had to find the jackpot amount on Google because he doesn't watch television news.
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