Sunset Beach man’s Thanksgiving purchase leads to Powerball win

SUNSET BEACH, NC (WWAY) — A Brunswick County man had two million extra reasons to be thankful after a purchase he made on Thanksgiving.

Carnell Marlowe of Sunset Beach bought a Powerball ticket Thursday that won him $2 million in Saturday night’s drawing.

“I’m so grateful,” Marlowe said, according to a news release from the NC Education Lottery. “I’ve actually won other games before on Thanksgiving Day. Thanksgiving’s been good to me.”

He beat the odds of 1 in 11.7 million to win the prize in Saturday’s drawing.

“It was hard to believe,” Marlowe said. “My first thought was to hide my ticket.”

He did just that, but instead of hiding it in his house, he put it in his wallet.

“No one’s going to think I’d carry it around with me,” Marlowe said. “That’s the last place they’d look.”

However, Marlowe was so nervous carrying a slip of paper worth $2 million around, that he didn’t leave his house until Monday when he claimed his prize at lottery headquarters in Raleigh. After required state and federal tax withholdings, he received $1,385,000. He plans to use some of the money to pay bills. He’ll save the rest for retirement.

He bought the $3 Power Play ticket at the Minuteman Food Mart on Beach Drive South West in Calabash.

The numbers matched all five white balls to win $1 million.  The prize doubled because he had a Power Play ticket.