RALEIGH – Benjamin Green, a meat cutter from Star, plans to use the $1 million prize he won playing the $4,000,000 Cash Blowout scratch-off game to take an island vacation.
Green learned of his win when he scratched off his lucky $20 ticket at home on Wednesday afternoon.
“When I saw the ‘win’ symbol I thought I had won maybe forty dollars,” Green explained. “When I saw it was a big winner, I started screaming. I dropped the ticket and picked it back up to see if it would change. I even turned on all the lights so I could see better. This is really going to make things easier.”
Top prize winners in the $4,000,000 Cash Blowout game have the option of claiming their prize as an annuity paid out over 20 years, or as a one-time lump sum payment. Green chose the $600,000 lump sum prize, worth $408,006 after taxes.
“I’m going to just lie on a beach somewhere and not worry about anything for a minute,” Green said. “I might even get one of those big leaves to fan me. Honestly, this feels great. This is a true blessing.”
Green purchased the winning ticket at the E-Zee Gas and Convenience Store on North Main Street in Biscoe. As of Thursday morning, one $1 million prize remains to be claimed in the game.
Ticket sales for games such as $4,000,000 Cash Blowout have enabled the lottery to raise more than $2.6 billion for education initiatives statewide. Since the lottery began through June 30, 2012, Montgomery County education programs received more than $8.5 million in lottery funds. By law, those funds pay for teachers’ salaries in grades K-3, school construction, prekindergarten programs for at-risk four-year-olds, and need-based college scholarships and financial aid.