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Nancy Bourget of Lincolnton won $200,000 on January 6, 2024. This was the largest Carolina Keno win to date.
In an interview with the North Carolina Lottery, Nancy said:
The stars are all aligning for me right now. It's a little surreal.
Nancy won the Carolina Keno game playing a $40 Quick Pick ticket. She won a $100,000 prize by matching all 10 numbers. Her prize was doubled because she played for two shares for each draw. She purchased her winning ticket from RaceWay, located at 1913 East Main Street, Lincolnton.
Nancy said she had often dreamed of winning but never expected it to come true. She claimed her prize on January 12, 2024, which just happened to be her birthday. After tax withholdings, she took home $141,407. She plans to put some of her winning aside for her five grandchildren. She said:
I want to look out for their future. I'm really excited for them.
How to play the North Carolina Keno
When you play Keno, you can win up to $1,000,000 every 4 minutes with more than 300 drawings every day. For each Keno drawing, the computer will randomly select 20 numbers out of 80. For each game you play, you choose how many numbers – referred to as spots – you want to play, and you can pick up to ten. Then, choose numbers from 1 to 80 that you want to try to match. Alternatively, you can choose a Quick Pick to select your numbers for you. Each play costs $1. You have the option to play for $2 to double your prize or $3 to triple your prize. You can continue adding a dollar, up to $10, to multiply your prize. You can enter up to 20 consecutive drawings at a time.
The largest-ever Keno win
Nancy Bourget's $200,000 win might have made Keno history in North Carolina, but it's not the biggest Keno prize ever won. The largest prize in the history of the game was paid for the first time out to an unnamed player from Massachusetts. The $1 million prize was won on March 22, 2023, with a ticket purchased from Zenner's Package and Deli located at 307 Tyler St, Pittsfield. The winner played with a 12-spot ticket, and they selected the numbers 1 through 12. The winning numbers included every number from 1 to 13. The odds of winning this game were 1 in 478,261,833.
In the same game, Robert Taylor and his wife Terry, from Taunton, Massachusetts, won $500,000. He purchased his Keno ticket from Atlantic Café, located at 10 Plain Street in Taunton. Terry played numbers 1 through 11. They planned to use his winnings to buy a home and take his grandchildren to Disney World.
This was also a lucky game for four other Massachusetts players, who each won $100,000 prizes.
Another $1 million Keno winner
Keno player John Exley from Washington State became the second person to win a $1 million Keno prize on December 23, 2023. John purchased his winning ticket from Safeway, located at 13434 Colton Place in Oregon City. The 60-year-old wagered on a 10-spot game and added the Special Keno gameplay option. He matched all ten numbers to win his jackpot prize.
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