Fayetteville Man Wins $150,000 Powerball Jackpot

Playing his family's lucky numbers paid off for a Fayetteville man, who won a $250,000 jackpot in last Wednesday's Powerball drawing.

Trevor Stewart said the numbers came mostly from his family.

"I asked family members to choose the numbers and that’s what I play," he said. "Been playing them for years."

Stewart purchased his ticket through the North Carolina Education Lottery Online Play system.

"I always play online," Stewart said. "That’s just the easiest way."

Stewart hit on four white balls and the Powerball number, to win $50,000. The prize was tripled when the 3x Power Play multiplier hit. He claimed his prize at lottery headquarters Monday.

After taxes, Stewart went home with $106,516, which he said he will use to pay some bills and put the rest away in savings.

Wednesday’s Powerball drawing offers a $251 million jackpot, or $135.2 million in cash that someone in Fayetteville could win. The odds of winning a Powerball jackpot are 1 in 292 million. Tuesday’s Mega Millions jackpot stands at $277 million, or $149 million in cash. The odds of wining a Mega Millions jackpot are 1 in 302 million.

Players can buy their Powerball or Mega Millions tickets at a retail location or with Online Play through the lottery’s website or with the NC Lottery Official Mobile App.

Ticket sales from draw games like Powerball make it possible for the lottery to raise $2.5 million a day on average for education. For details on how $22.6 million raised by the lottery made a difference in Cumberland County in 2021, visit www.nclottery.com and click on the “Impact” section.

Things have been stressful the last few years, so it would make some sense that North Carolina wouldn't necessarily be the happiest state in the country.

And while things are certainly not TERRIBLE here, North Carolina only comes in as the 20th happiest state in America, according to a recent study from our friends at WalletHub.

"To determine where Americans exhibit the best combination of these factors, we examined the 50 states across 30 key metrics, ranging from the depression rate and the share of adults feeling productive to income growth and the unemployment rate," WalletHub said in the study.

When you dive into the data, you feel the middle-of-the-pack Eeyore-like happiness we are experiencing here. Here's where North Carolina ranked among the 50 states in a number of key metrics, with 1 being the happiest and 25 being average:

The good people of Hawaii ranked as the happiest in the country, and why wouldn't they? And the least happy state? Well, that goes to West Virginia, where economic impacts have kept things feeling pretty rough for a while now.

"Research suggests that having more money is associated with greater happiness on average - but only to a certain extent," Dr. Emily C. Willroth, Assistant Professor, Psychological & Brain Sciences – Washington University in St. Louis told WalletHub. "Above a certain income level, income and happiness are less strongly related. This might suggest that money can buy happiness when it is used to meet basic needs and remove financial strain. Beyond that, money may be less important for happiness."

So what does the rest of the country look like? We take a dive through the rankings here to show you the top and the bottom of the list of the happiest states in the country, where North Carolina came in at No. 20 overall.

This one seems obvious, with the good folks on the islands having the top scores in Emotional & Physical Well Being, playing a big part.

Thanks to high scores in Community & Environment, Maryland isn't far behind Hawaii.

Sure, it's really cold up there, but loads of work opportunities and great community makes for a happy place.

The best work environment and community aspects in the country make up for some of the other shortfalls in Utah.

While New Jersey may rank a little low on work and community aspects, being near the top in emotional and physical well being certainly helped.

Similar to their nearby neighbors in Utah, Idaho has a great work and community environment, which makes up for a low emotional score.

Solid numbers all across the board helps make California one of the happiest places.

A 3 rank in Emotional & Physical Well Being was huge in helping Illinois overcome bad scores elsewhere.

If you're a fan of the open plains, and corn, the happy folks in Nebraska are just your type.

Connecticut gets some bonus points for healthy people, and that makes up for some lower community scoring.

There's still plenty of happiness in all these states, so we'll pick happy images to represent them.

You'll notice a pattern here with the bottom ranked states, like Missouri, they all have terrible scores in Emotional & Physical Well Being.

New Mexico is also hurt by a bad work environment score.

While Tennessee is middle of the pack in work environment, it doesn't fare well in emotional well being, or community and environment.

Oklahoma has a great 12 ranking in community and environment, but some dreadful scores everywhere else.

The worst state in the country for Work Environment makes for a pretty low ranking down on the Delta.

It appears that having the best college football team in all the land year in and year out isn't enough to make up for some rough health and community marks.

The folks in Kentucky are struggling with mental and emotional well being it seems, and also a lack of work opportunities.

They mean well, don't they?

The best food in the country can't make up for a terrible work environment, and the associated Southern health issues.

As we mentioned earlier, bad marks all around doomed West Virginia, particularly when it comes to mental and physical health.