RALEIGH – Glenn Wooten, a crew leader for a local parks and recreation department who lives in Fountain, plans to use the top prize he won on his $500,000 Jackpot ticket to pay off his mortgage and spend more time with his family.

“I was sitting in the car and I scratched off three zeroes,” Wooten said. “I thought I had won a thousand dollars, so I put it down without scratching the rest of it. Something told me to pick it up again, so I scratched off the rest and sat there in complete disbelief. I couldn’t breathe. I’ve never felt this way in my entire life.”

After taxes were withheld, Wooten received a check for $340,003. He purchased his winning ticket at the Wilco on Dickinson Avenue in Greenville.

“I feel great and it’s really sinking in,” Wooten added. “Now I’m going to buy one of those Mega Millions tickets for the big jackpot.”

As of Friday morning, one top prize remains to be claimed in the $500,000 Jackpot game.

Since the lottery began through June 30, 2011, Pitt County education programs received more than $31.7 million in lottery funds. By law, those funds pay for teachers’ salaries, school construction, need-based college scholarships and prekindergarten programs.

To date, the N.C. Education Lottery has raised more than $2.2 billion for these initiatives statewide.