RALEIGH – Brian Fisher, a pipe fitter from Canton, plans to use the $100,000 prize he won playing the Mega Bucks game to help pay for his son’s master’s degree.

Fisher and his son were at home when they scratched off the game’s top prize.

“We scratched it together,” said Fisher. “My son was the first to see that we’d won. He almost passed out. He was so excited. It was hard to believe. It still is. I feel good.”

After state and federal taxes were withheld, Fisher received a check for $68,001.The lucky ticket was purchased at Southside on Pisgah Drive in Canton.

As of Monday afternoon, five $100,000 top prizes remain to be claimed in the Mega Bucks game.

Since the lottery began through June 30, 2012, Haywood County education programs received more than $11.2 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 college scholarships and financial aid based on need.

To date, the N.C. Education Lottery has raised more than $2.6 billion for these initiatives statewide.