RALEIGH – Rex Williams, a furniture factory worker from Granite Falls, plans to use the $150,000 prize he won playing Hot Streak to pay off his mortgage.

“It’s going to be a weight off of our shoulders,” Williams said as he collected his winnings. “This feels great. I’m going straight to the bank.”

Williams also plans to use his winnings, worth $102,001 after taxes were withheld, to save for retirement. He purchased the lucky $5 ticket at Mel’s Superette on Old Lenoir Road in Hickory.

As of Monday morning, one $150,000 prize remains to be claimed in the Hot Streak game.

Ticket sales for games such as Hot Streak have enabled the lottery to raise more than $2.8 billion for education initiatives statewide. Since the lottery began through June 30, 2012, Caldwell County education programs received more than $17.8 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.