Local mom enjoys ‘surreal’ $150,000 Powerball win

Brittany Hitchcock, of Lenoir, used family birthdays and anniversaries to choose her Powerball numbers Wednesday night and they paid off with a $150,000 prize, the N.C. Education Lottery announced Friday.

“I’ve been playing those same numbers for years,” she said.

Hitchcock bought her lucky $3 ticket from Gamewell Superette on Morganton Boulevard in Lenoir. She matched the numbers on four white balls and the red Powerball to win $50,000, and because she bought a Power Play ticket, her prize tripled to $150,000 when the 3X multiplier hit.

“It was surreal,” she recalled. “It actually still feels surreal.”

Hitchcock said she told her three girls as soon as she won.

“They were all like, ‘No way,’” she laughed.

She arrived at lottery headquarters on Thursday to claim her winnings and after taxes took home $107,251.

Hitchcock plans to go on a cruise to the Bahamas with her family.