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Acworth man spots $1M prize playing Powerball

ATLANTA — An Acworth man has grabbed a gigantic Georgia Lottery prize playing Powerball. Michael Craig, 54, matched the first five winning numbers from the April 16 Powerball drawing, garnering a $1 million prize.

Publix Super Market #0566, 1727 Mars Hill Road in Acworth, sold the winning Quik Pik ticket.

“We needed milk, eggs and a newspaper, and I went to the front of the store for a ticket,” he explained.

Craig watched the televised drawing, realizing that three of the numbers drawn looked familiar.

“I told my wife, ‘I think we’ve won the lottery,’ and she went online to check,” he said. “We were all in a daze.”

Winning numbers from the April 16 drawing were: 34-39-42-44-59 and the Powerball was 8.

Self-employed, Craig and his wife, Dru, have two children, ages 23 and 17.

The lucky winner wants to use his winnings to expand the family business.

“We want to be good stewards and be responsible,” Craig shared. “We want to provide employment opportunities and do good things in the community.”

Wednesday’s Powerball drawing is at an estimated $150 million to a single annuity winner.

Powerball tickets are $2 per play. Players can add the Power Play feature for an additional $1 per play to increase non-jackpot prize winnings.

As with all other Georgia Lottery games, proceeds from Powerball will benefit education in the state of Georgia.

Since its first year, the Georgia Lottery Corp. has returned more than $15 billion to the state of Georgia for education. All Georgia Lottery profits go to pay for specific educational programs, including Georgia’s HOPE Scholarship Program and Georgia’s Pre-K Program. More than 1.6 million students have received HOPE, and more than 1.3 million 4-year-olds have attended the statewide, voluntary prekindergarten program.