NORTH CAROLINA
A set of lucky numbers made up from the birthdays of his wife and kids won Alonza Flynn of Kannapolis, North Carolina a $100,000 Powerball prize.
Flynn, a plumber, said he has used the numbers for the last year, buying $3 Power Play tickets whenever the Powerball jackpot crossed the $100 million mark. With a jackpot weighing in at $150.4 million, he stopped at the Smokers Depot on Pennsylvania Avenue in Kannapolis to try the lucky numbers again.
Four of the numbers matched the white balls and a fifth matched the red Powerball in that night's drawing. Since Flynn had a Power Play ticket, the $50,000 prize doubled to $100,000 when a 2x multiplier was drawn.
Flynn discovered his good luck the following Tuesday morning. "I said, guess what, I won $100,000," Flynn said he told his wife. "She said, '$100,000? Check again, and make sure.'"
Flynn confirmed the win and the two traveled straight to lottery headquarters in Raleigh to collect the prize. After the required tax withholdings, he received $70,644.
Flynn said he planned to use the prize money to pay bills, help pay for his daughter's college next year, and perhaps take a vacation to Las Vegas or Greece.
TENNESSEE
A father and his son claimed a $1 million prize after buying the winning Powerball ticket at a gas station in Maryville, Tennessee.
Jack Canfield, of Maryville, checked his Powerball numbers against the ones that were drawn and five numbers matched. He then called his son Todd, who searched the Internet to see how much his father had won.
"I asked him if he was sitting down. Then I told him he was a millionaire," Todd said, according to a news release from the Tennessee Education Lottery Corporation.
Jack Canfield, who owns a commercial glass company with his son, purchased the winning ticket at E-Z Stop Food Mart on East Hunt Road. The store will receive a $5,000 bonus for selling the winning ticket.
"Jack, who is an occasional Powerball player, says he plans to save, invest  and splurge on a new vehicle for his wife," the release reads.
OREGON
An Oregon man carried around a winning Powerball ticket worth just over $150 million for two weeks before realizing he'd struck it rich.
Steven Nickell, of Salem, told Oregon Lottery officials he finally remembered to check his ticket one day on his lunch break.
"When the clerk told me that wins over $600 have to go to the Lottery office, I thought I could buy my wife something nice for the Fourth of July," Nickell said. "I had no idea that ticket was worth $150 million!"
Nickell said his luck made him feel uncomfortable at first, but he's growing used to his newfound riches.
"At first I felt guilty I won. Then I realized that I'm the guy that gets to stand up and say, 'Bingo!' he said. "We all play the game, it just so happens I'm the guy who got to win this time."
Nickell elected to receive the prize as a lump sum of $61 million after taxes.
Nickell took the ticket home, and about an hour before his wife got home, checked the numbers.
"I looked at ticket and couldn't stop shaking!" he said.
He and his wife have already hired a financial planner and a lawyer to plan for their future.
MINNESOTA
A college student from St. Paul won a $1 million Powerball prize using a smartphone, mobile app that's been available in Minnesota for less than a month.
The Minnesota Lottery revealed that Brandon Stevenson, a 20-year-old Concordia University student, had won $1 million on Powerball.
The winning ticket was purchased through app and was credited to being sold at Mike Zipper's Fun Merchandise at 61 Winifred St. W. in St. Paul.
