Raleigh, NC -- (SBWIRE) -- 04/09/2012 -- The Kroger Co. (NYSE: KR), (http://www.kroger.com/), the nation’s largest traditional grocery retailer with 16 locations throughout the Triangle, has announced that the Raleigh store located at 350 East Six Forks Road sold a winning lottery ticket worth $250,000 in the Mega Millions drawing on Friday, March 30. Only four tickets in North Carolina matched all five white balls to earn the quarter-million dollar prize. In addition to Raleigh, winning tickets were sold in Broadway, Jacksonville and Wendell. Smaller awards in the state will also be given to the owners of 369,594 tickets totaling $3 million in prizes.

Three tickets bought in Illinois, Kansas and Maryland won Friday’s Mega Millions jackpot by matching all five white ball numbers – two, four, 23, 38 and 46 – as well as the Mega ball number, 23. These ticket holders will split a historic jackpot worth $640 million.

The North Carolina Education Lottery estimates that the record-breaking jackpot generated an extra $12.9 million in state revenue on Friday alone. The money raised will go toward supporting pre-kindergarten programs for at-risk toddlers, reducing class sizes in elementary schools, providing need-based college scholarships, paying for teachers' salaries in grades K-3 and repairing schools. Since its inception in 2005, the N.C. Education Lottery has raised more than $2.2 billion for these initiatives statewide.

QUOTE:
“Kroger recognizes that the lottery offers North Carolinians the exciting chance to win big while supporting important education initiatives as well,” said Carl York, advertising & public relations manager for Kroger’s mid-Atlantic marketing region. “We are excited that a ticket sold at our Raleigh store has earned a $250,000 prize, and we congratulate the winner!”

DETAILS:
- For more information about the N.C. Education Lottery, visit http://www.nc-educationlottery.org/.

NEW MEDIA CONTENT:
North Carolina Education Lottery Facebook Page:
http://www.facebook.com/nc.educationlottery

About Kroger
Kroger, the nation’s largest traditional grocery retailer, has 16 stores throughout the Triangle. Headquartered in Cincinnati, the company employs more than 338,000 associates who serve customers in 2,439 supermarkets and multi-department stores in 31 states under two dozen local banner names including Kroger, City Market, Dillons, Jay C, Food 4 Less, Fred Meyer, Fry's, King Soopers, QFC, Ralphs and Smith’s. The company also operates 788 convenience stores, 361 fine jewelry stores, 1,046 supermarket fuel centers and 40 food processing plants in the United States. Kroger focuses its charitable efforts on supporting hunger relief, health and wellness initiatives, and local organizations in the communities it serves. For more information, please visit http://www.kroger.com.

Erin Smith
MMI Public Relations
(919) 233-6600
Erin@mmipublicrelations.com
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http://www.mmipublicrelations.com