RALEIGH – For Ken Johnson of King, the chance to win a $100,000 prize playing the lottery began when he read his horoscope on Thursday.

“An upturn in your financial affairs could suddenly and unexpectedly occur,” Johnson read in his newspaper, the Winston-Salem Journal. “This shift is likely to prove helpful in more ways than one.”

“I felt encouraged,” said Johnson, a Capricorn who starts each day by reading his horoscope. “I figured I might win something if I played.”

Johnson decided to try his luck Friday morning when he stopped by Pete’s Grocery on Doral Drive in Tobaccoville and purchased a $4,000,000 Gold Bullion ticket. When that one didn’t win, Johnson purchased another scratch-off ticket and won $25. He decided to take the winnings from that ticket and try one more time.

“I scratched the numbers, and I saw all of these zeroes,” said Johnson, who works as a manufacturing associate. “I asked the guy behind the counter, “Am I reading this right?”

After confirming the win, Johnson returned home and told his wife, “You better be nice to me. She said, ‘Why? Did you win the lottery?’ And I said, ‘Maybe.’”

Johnson went to the recycling bin to retrieve his horoscope and pulled out the ticket to prove it.

After taxes were withheld, Johnson received a check for $68,006.

“My wife just recently lost her job, so this is a blessing,” said Johnson, as he held his check in one hand and a laminated copy of his horoscope in the other. The couple plans to use the money to pay bills and to save for a rainy day. He is the fourth person to win $100,000 in the game.

When the $20 game started in February, it began with three $4 million prizes, seven $1 million prizes, and eight $100,000 prizes. As of Tuesday afternoon, two $4 million prizes, five $1 million prizes and four $100,000 prizes remain to be claimed. Players who win the game’s top prize have the option of receiving a 20-year annuity or a lump sum option that can be claimed in either cash or gold bullion.

Since the lottery began through June 30, 2012, Stokes County education programs received more than $12.5 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. To date, the lottery has raised more than $2.8 billion for these initiatives statewide.