A Powerball player kicked off the new year with a huge Powerball win in North Carolina. The player bought a ticket that matched all but one number picked in the Jan. 1 drawing, making it worth $1 million, results show. The winning numbers: white balls 6-12-28-35-66, with red Powerball 26.

One lucky North Carolinian’s 2025 is off to an amazing start! A $2 Powerball ticket sold at the Friendly Mart on NC 24/47 West Bypass in Albermarle matched numbers on all five white balls in the New Year’s Day drawing to win $1 million.

Two Powerball tickets sold in Arizona and North Carolina won $1 million each, but just missed the $181 million jackpot, lottery officials say. The tickets matched five winning Powerball numbers, but not the Powerball, in the drawing Wednesday, Jan. 1, the national Powerball site said.

No tickets were sold matching all six numbers in Wednesday evening’s drawing of the multi-state Powerball lottery, pushing the estimated jackpot for Saturday’s drawing to $200 million. Two tickets were sold matching five numbers but not the Powerball Arizona and North Carolina.

The Powerball jackpot increased to $145 million after there was no jackpot winner in the drawing on Christmas.

The Powerball jackpot increased once again when it remained unclaimed after Wednesday's drawing, but the New Year's first lotto pull still proved to be lucky for some. On Wednesday, the jackpot was worth an estimated $181 million,

The Powerball ticket was the second sold in New Jersey that hit a second prize for $2 million in less than a week.