Powerball Winner Hasn't Quit Day Job

After taxes, she got about half of the $10,000 that she won on the August 7th Powerball drawing. She's putting the money toward the new copier she bought earlier this year for her business, Village Print. 

"It won't pay for it," she laughed about the non-life-changing chunk of change.

Valerie often plays scratch-off tickets, with which she has won "small amounts here and there." She also likes going to Vegas, but never wins there either. 

But with the Powerball jackpot at $448K, she decided to take a chance. 

"When it gets that big, you always have to buy a ticket," she said. Valerie let the computer choose her numbers randomly when she made her Powerball purchase at Ocracoke Station.

Four of the five Powerball numbers matched her ticket. With just one more match, she would've been splitting the big money, but as it is, she won the standard 10K for four numbers. 

"Normally, if I have a ticket, I'll watch the drawing," she said, but that night she forgot. The next morning, sitting in line for the ferry, she decided to check her numbers. What a nice surprise! 

From there, her journey took her to Wilmington, where her son, Preston, celebrated his 8th birthday while she collected her winnings and posed for photo ops with a giant check. She turned the trip into an end-of-summer vacation for her boys, stopping by the Aquarium, Fort Fisher, Atlantic Beach, and other attractions in the southeastern part of the state.

Valerie joins Rhonda Mason (who won $30,000 in 2008 on a Red Hot Bingo scratch-off game at the Community Store) as being famous on Ocracoke for beating the odds and winning a little bit of the state lottery money. 

Valerie's advice for other would-be winners?

"You can't win if you don't play."