| August 31, 2005 | Legislation creating lottery signed into law |
| September, 2005 | NCEL Commission members appointed |
| October 6, 2005 | Initial meeting of NCELC |
| November 17, 2005 | Tom Shaheen appointed Director, NCEL |
| December 5, 2005 | Tom Shaheen begins work |
| December 12, 2005 | NCELC voted to join multi-state Powerball |
| January 12, 2006 | Retail applications posted on web |
| January 30, 2006 | Instant ticket and online games contracts awarded to GTECH |
| February 3, 2006 | 5028 retail applications received |
| February 13, 2006 | First retail equipment installed |
| March 6, 2006 | First retailer trained |
| March 9, 2006 | First scratch off tickets unveiled |
| March 10, 2006 | Tickets delivered to warehouse |
| March 18, 2006 | 4000th retailer installed |
| March 27, 2006 | Lottery advertising begins |
| March 28, 2006 | Instant tickets shipped to all approved retailers |
| March 30, 2006 | Education lottery begins retail sales |
| March 30, 2006 | Education lottery website live |
| March 31, 2006 | First $100,000 winner comes to Headquarters |
| April 18, 2006 | Two new scratch off games introduced |
| May 30, 2006 | Powerball sales began |
| May 31, 2006 | First Powerball draw and first Powerball $200,000 winner |
| June 7, 2006 | Player wins $1 million by powerplaying Powerball |
| July 22, 2006 | Staff moved into permanent offices-Yonkers Road |
| August 26, 2006 | Live Powerball drawing in Durham |
| September 29, 2006 | Unveil Carolina Hurricanes ticket |
| October 6, 2006 | Carolina Pick 3 sales began |
| October 19, 2006 | First transfer to beneficiary programs--$50 million |
| October 20, 2006 | Broke $500,000,000 in sales |
| October 27, 2006 | Carolina Cash 5 sales began |
| October 29, 2006 | First Carolina Cash 5 jackpot winner |
| October 31, 2006 | First Holiday Tickets, first $10 ticket on sale |
| November 29, 2006 | First Powerball Jackpot winner--$74.5 million |
| December 8, 2006 | Retired first instant scratch-off games |
| February 16, 2007 | Powerball Jackpot winner, Jackie Alston, comes forward |
| March 30, 2007 | First anniversary-NASCAR promo-first second chance drawing |
| May 11, 2007 | Sizzlin' Millionaire Raffle tickets go on sale |
| May 12, 2007 | Sales surpass $1 billion |
| June 30, 2007 | Sizzlin' Millionaire Raffle tickets sell out |
| July 4, 2007 | First raffle draw |
| July 10, 2007 | Introduce "Big Ol' Bucks" tickets and BOB the pirate |
| September 10, 2007 | Carolina Cash 5 Mustang Madness-first promo to give away cars |
| September 26, 2007 | Phil Morgan wins the first Cash 5 Mustang |
| September 26, 2007 | 32 players pick 4 of 5 white balls and Powerball based on TV show |
| November 11, 2007 | Merry Millionaire Raffle tickets go on sale |
| November 21, 2007 | NCEL conducts its first interim raffle draw for MMR |
| December 27, 2008 | Merry Millionaire Raffle draw |
| January 8, 2008 | $100 Million Cash Spectacular ticket with 73% prize payout goes on sale |
| February 12, 2008 | Farmville man wins first $1M annuity with $100 M Cash Spectacular |
| February 29, 2008 | Monthly sales top $100 million |
| March 27, 2008 | Harley ticket launched |
| March 31, 2008 | Mid-day Pick 3 draw begun |
| April 17, 2008 | First Harley Fat Boy awarded |
| May 3, 2008 | Total sales top $2 B |
| May 16, 2008 | NCEL 200 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race |
| May 17, 2008 | Live Powerball drawing at Lowe's Motor Speedway |
| June 7, 2008 | Annual sales top $1B |
| June 30, 2008 | Transfers to education $350 million meet legislative budget |
| August 1, 2008 | First Ford F-150 Lariat awarded |
| August 5, 2008 | $130M Blockbuster goes on sale-first win for life grand prize |
| August 4, 2008 | NCEL drawing room completed and ready to handle entries for second chance drawings |
| September 8, 2008 | Charlotte college student wins first $1M annuity with $130 M Blockbuster |
| October 21, 2008 | First interim draw for $130M Blockbuster - win $50,000 a year for life conducted at NCEL drawing room |
| January 7, 2009 | First draw with Powerball matrix changes, Florida as a new member, and minimum $20 million jackpot |
| February 25, 2009 | DOND Drawing for 5 players to travel to Hollywood |
| February 26, 2009 | Surpassed $3 billion in sales |
| March 31, 2009 | Highest transfer to date - $114 million, bringing life-to-date transfers to over $1.032 billion |
| March 31, 2009 | Win Before It Begins Harley giveaway at Time Warner Cable Arena in Charlotte |
| April 17, 2009 | Carolina Pick 4 added to NCEL games |
| May 9, 2009 | NCEL receives Certificate of Achievement for Excellence in Financial Reporting for first time |
| June 20, 2009 | Second Powerball jackpot winner sold in North Carolina - $88.1 million |
| June 23, 2009 | Partial 4th quarter transfer brings fiscal year to targeted goal of $385.5 million with 3 weeks to go in fiscal year |
| June 23, 2009 | Second Powerball jackpot winner comes forward - Jeff Wilson of Kings Mountain |
| July 1, 2009 | Final FY09 transfer brings fiscal year total to $410,876,050 and life-to-date total to $1,136,246,030 |
| July 14, 2009 | World Series of Poker ticket launched; first ticket with chance to sit at the table for World Series of Poker; first online entry only draw |
| July 21, 2009 | NCEL receives Certificate of Achievement for Excellence for Public Annual Financial Report for the first time; only state lottery in 2009 to receive the award |
| August 11, 2009 | NCEL joins Twitter and begins tweeting for first time |
| August 12, 2009 | $130 Million Blockbuster final draw; awarded grand prize of $50,000 a year for life to Darlene MacQuaide of Fayetteville |
| September 22, 2009 | NCEL launches Facebook fan page |
| October 6, 2009 | First $20 ticket, $200 Million Cash Extravaganza, available for sale; odds 1:2.65 |
| October 7, 2009 | NCEL receives Public Gaming Research Institute’s Sharp Award for Good Causes for the greatest percentage increase in dollars to beneficiary programs of any state lottery |
| October 19, 2009 | First $3 million winner on $20 ticket, $200 Million Cash Extravaganza |
| October 20, 2009 | 1000 Facebook fans |
| November 2, 2009 | NCEL Commission votes to join the Mega Millions game |
| November 29, 2009 | 1000 followers on Twitter |
| December 1, 2009 | First virtual game offered to enhance second chance drawing opportunity on Super Monopoly |
| January 26, 2010 | The Price is Right instant scratch-off ticket launched; includes second chance drawing to travel to Las Vegas to play a non-broadcast The Price is Right game |
| January 31, 2010 | NCEL begins selling MegaMillions tickets |
| February 8, 2010 | Frank Griffin wins Powerball jackpot of $141 million |
| March 4, 2010 | Price Is Right first second chance drawing for trip to Las Vegas |
| March 12, 2010 | Facebook and Twitter reach 5,000 fans and followers |
| March 30, 2010 | First Lottery to Go machine installed at the Realo in Kinston; this machine sells instant and online games |
| May 28, 2010 | First MegaMillions jackpot winning ticket sold in Greensboro |
| June 28, 2010 | Final FY10 transfer brings total for education to $419,463,272, exceeding the FY10 revised budget; life to date transfers to education equal $1,555,709,301.48 |
| June 30, 2010 | NCEL receives Certificate of Achievement for Excellence in Financial Reporting for second time |
| July 2, 2010 | Tickets for third NCEL raffle, Cash Splash Millionaire Raffle, go on sale with top prize of $1 million after taxes |
| July 19, 2010 | The NCEL transfers $419 million to the state Education Lottery Fund - the most ever in a single year - bringing the total amount to $1.556 billion. Achieved record year in sales of $1,421,313,102, up 9.9 percent from FY09 (based on uncertified results through June 30, 2010) |
| August 13, 2010 | 2000 followers on Twitter |
| August 16, 2010 | Tom Shaheen, the NCEL's executive director since startup, announces he is leaving his post. Alice Garland, deputy executive director for legislative and corporate communications, is named acting director |
| September 19, 2010 | 6,000 fans “like” the NCEL on Facebook |
| October 26, 2010 | The NCEL transfers $99.4 million to the State Education Lottery Fund, raising the total to $1.655 billion to education since startup |
| January 18, 2011 | Alice Garland, who had served as Acting Executive Director since August 16, 2010, is named new Executive Director of the NCEL |
| February 4, 2011 | Michael Stutts wins largest instant ticket prize in NCEL history ever awarded: $200,000 a year for life, $4 million guaranteed |
| February 9, 2011 | Combined audience on Facebook & Twitter surpasses 10,000 |
| February 27, 2011 | Daily afternoon Pick 4 drawings and Sunday afternoon Pick 3 drawings launch |
| March 2011 | Best week of sales ever leads to best month of sales ever, driving best quarter of sales in NCEL history |
| March 28, 2011 | WLOS-TV Asheville begins airing NCEL drawings on 11 p.m. newscasts |
| March 30, 2011 | The NCEL celebrates five years of sales, prizes and returns to the state |
| June 27, 2011 | Achieved $6.36 billion in total sales since inception |
| June 29, 2011 | Earnings for the state exceed $2 billion with record transfer of $446.9 million |
| July 22, 2011 | 3000 followers on Twitter |
| August 18, 2011 | NCEL receives Certificate of Achievement for Excellence in Financial Reporting for third time |
| November 25, 2011 | The World Lottery Association, an international organization representing 140 lotteries from 90 countries, awards the NCEL the Level 2 certification in its responsible gaming program. |
| January 26, 2012 | NCEL transfers $111.6 million to the State Education Lottery Fund, raising the total to $2.2 billion to education since startup |
| March 30, 2012 | NCEL posts records sales of Mega Millions tickets as the jackpot soars to $656 million |
| April 26, 2012 | NCEL transfers $127 million to the State Education Lottery Fund, raising the total to $2.35 billion to education since startup |
| June 28, 2012 | Final FY12 transfers of $102.8 million bring the annual total transferred to education to $456.7 million. The cumulative total transferred to education is $2.45 billion since startup. |
| June 30, 2012 | Lottery concludes FY12 with annual sales of $1.59 billion, bringing the cumulative total to more than $7.9 billion since startup |
| July 25, 2012 | Lottery announces that 33 prizes of $1 million or more were awarded in FY12, with an estimated $953 million in total prizes paid during the year |
| August 28, 2012 | Four new games begin that offer players the chance to win as much as $5,000 a week for life. The guaranteed value of the prizes represent the largest ever offered on instant tickets at $1, $2, $5, and $10 per play |
| November 28, 2012 | NCEL posts records sales of Powerball tickets as the jackpot soars to $587 million |