'I'm still going to wear my jeans.' Cumberland County retiree takes home $223M in Powerball win

He never expected to win the lottery, much less a Powerball jackpot worth $344.6 million, he said.

“You play to win, but you don’t ever expect to win," Jackson said at a news conference after accepting his winnings at the N.C. Education Lottery headquarters.

Jackson, a 66-year-old retired Cumberland County retailer, chose to take a lump sum worth $223 million.

When he first saw his numbers Tuesday morning, he said, he didn't see the last digit and thought he'd won just $50,000. He called his wife with the good news and said he was headed to Raleigh to pick up his prize.

But then he looked at the ticket again.

"I said, 'Dang, I got them all,'" he said at the news conference.

Winning $350 million jackpot ticket sold at grocery store in Hope Mills

He doesn't watch the news, he said, so he didn't know how much the Powerball was worth. His wife told him to look it up on Google.

"You ain't going to believe this — I got it all," he told his wife.

"I don't know what to do with it. I hope it don't change me a lot," he said. "I'm still going to wear my jeans — maybe newer ones."

Jackson said he plans to donate some of the money to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, Shriners Hospitals for Children and the Wounded Warrior Project.

He and his brother have a deal, too: If either of them win big in the lottery, the winner gives his brother $1 million.

Jackson, who used to have a military shop near Fort Bragg, said he might travel to Vietnam with his wife. He's been there about 20 times already, he said.

“It still hasn’t come over me yet, how much — all that money,” he said.

He's won small amounts while playing the lottery for years, he said.

He bought his ticket Carlie C's, a grocery store on North Main Street in Hope Mills, where he's bought most of his lottery tickets.

"I'm glad they're happy, too, because they're nice people," he said.

Lottery officials said Carlie C's is eligible to receive a $50,000 retailer incentive award for selling the winning ticket.

Jackson won the largest jackpot ever in North Carolina involving a single ticket. It's the fifth time that a North Carolina ticket has claimed a Powerball jackpot.