Changing Fortunes: North Carolina Woman Wins Powerball First Millionaire of the Year

Pamela Bradshaw of Clinton, North Carolina, has made history by becoming the Powerball First Millionaire of the Year 2024.

Bradshaw won the $1 million dollar prize just after midnight on New Year's Day during Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve with Ryan Seacrest 2024 on ABC. Her win is one of 22 awarded in a promotional partnership between the North Carolina Education Lottery and 22 other state lotteries.

Bradshaw's good fortune started with a second-chance drawing held by the lottery.

In that raffle, she won a VIP trip to New York City, where she witnessed the Statue of Liberty for the first time and cried during the plane ride. Her four-day, three-night trip to Manhattan included an exclusive New Year's Eve gala in Times Square.

During the live broadcast of the Powerball First Millionaire of the Year drawing, Bradshaw became the second North Carolinian to win $1 million on New Year's Eve in the Powerball promotion. Her win is the second year in a row that a North Carolinian has won the prize on the promotion's starting day.

"I'm so blessed," said Bradshaw while speaking of her big win on the lottery's website. "I would love to have my own home that is mine and that I feel safe in. Not anything fancy or big just a little cottage or something with one or two bedrooms."

Bradshaw now has the chance to "fix it up pretty and clean and feel safe," all while enjoying her newly found millionaire status. She will join other new millionaires who have been crowned by the lottery over the past few years.

In another history-making feature, Bradshaw's odds of winning stood at one in five, upending the long-held belief that lottery games offer slim odds of winning.

The New Year's Day Powerball drawing was set to have a jackpot of $810 million with an annuity of $408.9 million, or a cash value of $251.6 million, according to the lottery.

The North Carolina Education Lottery was founded in 2005 and has raised more than $7.8 billion as of 2021, benefitting education, economic development, and other areas across the state. The million-dollar Powerball promotion is one of the lottery's most popular and lucrative endeavors.

Bradshaw is now one of the newest millionaires in North Carolina, thanks to the state lottery and her lucky streak. She joins the exciting new class of lottery winners who have all made their mark in the history books.