“We like to go on cruises,” the winner told lottery officials. “This will make it a lot sweeter next time.” It’s not the first time a lucky lottery player has planned for a vacation. Another North Carolina winner hoped to take a Caribbean cruise after he hit the jackpot, McClatchy News reported in May.

A Florida lottery player has more than 115,000 new reasons to smile. Someone matched all five numbers in the evening drawing Thursday, Jan. 9, to win a $116,958.66 jackpot, according to officials at the Florida Lottery. The lucky player scored the windfall on a ticket purchased at the Riverview Food Mart in Riverview, the lottery said.

A scratch-off Illinois State Lottery ticket purchased from the Speedway gas station in South Elgin has netted some lucky winner $10 million.

Mega Millions players will soon pay $5 rather than $2 for a ticket — just the second price increase in the 22-year-old game’s history.

“We know that many people will likely receive tickets to Friday’s drawing as holiday gifts, and what a gift that would turn out to be if you ended up with a ticket worth a $1.15 billion jackpot,” Joshua Johnston, lead director for the Mega Millions Consortium, said in a news release before the jackpot rose again to $1.22 billion.

Congrats to two Cash 5 players who win big prizes yesterday! A player with a ticket from Masonboro Country Store on Masonboro Loop Rd. in Wilmington won a $200,757 prize and a player with a ticket from Harris Teeter on Town Center Dr. in Mooresville won $50,000 with Double Play! pic.twitter.com/lgWVhDoRWc

A lucky lottery player in New York City won $3 million in a New York LOTTO jackpot prize. The New York Lottery announced that one first-prize ticket — worth $3 million — was sold for the Wednesday, Jan. 8, New York LOTTO drawing. It was sold at Players Cafe, located at 241 Bleecker St., in Manhattan.