RALEIGH – Tyler Riddle, a construction worker from Hope Mills, said that he’ll use the $100,000 he won playing Mega Bucks to pay down his mortgage and maybe go hunting.

Riddle had just got off the job Saturday afternoon when he stopped with some friends at the Short Trip on Chickenfoot Road in Hope Mills. That’s where he bought one Mega Bucks ticket for $5 – scratched it off – and found out he won $100,000.

“I saw the one, then more zeroes,” Riddle recalled. “I said, ‘There’s no way.’ My friends went crazy.”

After required state and federal withholdings, Riddle received a check for $69,201. The North Carolina native said that, while the prize money wouldn’t change his life, it was a thrill to win.

“I’m happy to have it,” he added.

Ticket sales have made it possible for the lottery to raise more than $3.4 billion for the state. North Carolina Education Lottery net proceeds will be used this year to help pay salaries of teachers and teacher assistants, for pre-kindergarten programs for at-risk four-year-olds, school construction and repair, and need-based college scholarships and financial aid.

For details on how more than $115.8 million in lottery funds have made a difference in Cumberland County, click on the “Where the Money Goes” tab on the lottery’s website.