RALEIGH – John Sellers, a retiree from Hendersonville in Henderson County, plans to use the $100,000 prize he won playing the lottery to boost his retirement fund.

Sellers won the top prize in the $100,000 Taxes Paid game. The $5 game marks the first time the lottery has offered players the chance to take home one of six after-tax prizes of $100,000. He scratched his winning ticket in his truck after purchasing it at the Stop N Go on Sugarloaf Road in Hendersonville.

“I read it several times,” Sellers said. “It was like my eyes were playing tricks on me.”

The lottery will pay the minimum mandatory required federal and state tax withholding as part of the top prize awarded. The actual top prize Sellers claimed was $147,059.

“I thought I was going to get $68,000 after taxes,” Sellers added. “It’s a great thing. You’ve made my day.”

As of Monday morning, three top prizes remain to be claimed in the game. The NCEL advises winners that they discuss with a tax professional any additional federal and state income taxes that may be due.

Two similar instant scratch-off games are now on sale: $5,000 Taxes Paid, a $1 game, and $30,000 Taxes Paid, a $2 game. The actual top prizes for each game are as follows: $7,353 for the $5,000 Taxes Paid game and $44,118 for the $30,000 Taxes Paid game.

Since the lottery began through June 30, 2011, Henderson County education programs received more than $14.8 million in lottery funds. By law, those funds pay for teachers’ salaries in grades K-3, school construction, need-based college scholarships and prekindergarten programs.