North Carolina’s Pamela Bradshaw Is First Powerball Millionaire of 2024

The $1 million promotion has been running for a few years now, having launched in 2019 ahead of the first lucky player being announced in the first few minutes of 2020.

The latest competition followed a similar format to previous editions, with five finalists selected from a field of regional winners across 23 participating state lotteries. Those finalists were all in attendance in New York on Sunday night, having been awarded VIP trips for two to ring in the New Year.

Bradshaw, from Clinton in NC, was randomly selected as the winner just after midnight, and she can now look forward to life as a millionaire. The other finalists were Finton Wallace from Rhode Island, Lora-Lee Casady from Idaho, Maire Kelly Joyce from New York and Tracy Lacobie-Goeddel from Georgia.

The finalists had previously won second-chance drawings and other contests that took place at state level throughout the latter part of 2023. Their trips to New York were then secured in a preliminary draw that selected five of the state winners to form a national pool.

Upon finding out that she had won, a delighted Bradshaw said: “I’m so blessed. I cried on the plane ride and I cried at the Statue of Liberty. It’s just been so incredible. I would love to have my own home that is mine and that I feel safe in. I can have my own house and fix it up pretty and clean and feel safe. Not anything fancy or big, just a little cottage or something with one or two bedrooms."

Go to the Powerball Millionaire page to find out about what the competition entails, including details of the VIP trip that was estimated to have a retail value of around $20,000 per finalist.

Previous Winners

Bradshaw is the fifth player to become the First Powerball Millionaire of the Year in this promotion, following in the footsteps of last year’s winner Gary Krigbaum, who was also from North Carolina. Krigbaum’s daughter Sarah Day had stood in for her father on the visit to New York.

Bradshaw is also the first woman to win the award. Back in 2020, Maine’s Blaine Marston made history as the first winner, and 12 months later he was followed by Carlos Mabry from Washington D.C. Brian Mineweaser from Pennsylvania won in 2022, then it was Krigbaum last year.

As well as creating all these millionaires, many other players have won prizes at state level as part of the First Powerball Millionaire promotion.

Powerball.net will bring you details about the next competition at the start of 2025 as soon as they are available. In the meantime, keep up to date with all the latest winning Powerball Numbers from the regular drawings that take place on Monday, Wednesday and Saturday nights.