North Carolina Powerball winner who missed top prize by one number plans to buy a house with $2 million payout

Daryl Steinhoff, a 68-year-old resident of Clayton, North Carolina, said he will use part of his $2 million Powerball prize to buy a home after matching all five white balls in an early-September drawing and missing the red Powerball by one number.

Steinhoff said he used family numbers on his ticket for the drawing that produced the numbers 8, 23, 25, 40 and 53, with the red Powerball 5. He paid an extra dollar for the Power Play option, which doubled the base $1 million prize to $2 million. The Tar Heel State Lottery said Steinhoff claimed the prize at the State Lottery headquarters in Raleigh on Thursday and received $1.44 million after federal and state taxes.

Steinhoff told lottery officials he was unaware he had won until the morning after the drawing, when he received an alert. "I was ecstatic and in disbelief," he said, adding that he called his daughter and his girlfriend to share the news.

He was not the only player to nearly capture a rolling jackpot during that drawing. An anonymous ticket-buyer in Missoula, Montana, purchased a ticket at Rosauers Supermarket that matched all five white balls and, with the Power Play, collected $2 million. Montana lottery officials noted that the purchase vindicated a last-minute instinct after someone advised the buyer against it.

Players in Kansas and Texas also claimed $2 million prizes by matching five white balls and adding Power Play. Fifteen other players statewide matched the five white balls without Power Play to win $1 million each.

The September run of large prizes came amid a historic extended jackpot cycle that concluded when two tickets — sold in Missouri and Texas — won the top prize on Sept. 6. The winners split a $1.79 billion jackpot after a record 42 drawings without a jackpot winner. Lottery materials said the jackpot winners will have to divide the nearly $2 billion prize and may choose between an annuitized award of $895 million paid out over 29 years or a one-time lump sum of $410.3 million before taxes.

State lottery officials urged winners to take basic financial steps after claiming large prizes, including seeking professional tax and financial advice. Lottery claims typically undergo verification and tax withholding; Steinhoff received about $1.44 million of the $2 million prize after standard withholdings.

The recent cluster of large prizes shows the frequency with which players can win secondary Powerball prizes even when the jackpot rolls for months. The Sept. 1 drawing produced a large number of five-number winners across several states, underscoring both the odds of matching the five white balls and the effect of the Power Play option in increasing non-jackpot payouts.

Powerball is administered jointly by participating lotteries in multiple states and territories. Officials continue to update prize-claim information and encourage winners to consult their state lottery websites for procedures on claiming prizes and available options for receiving funds.