RALEIGH – Troy Barrett of Charlotte plans to use the $100,000 he won playing the Ultimate Crossword game to help pay for his new home.

Barrett was sick in bed when his wife brought him some lottery tickets to help him pass the time.

“I was lying there scratching off the tickets and I thought I was seeing things,” Barrett said. “Needless to say, I started feeling a little better.”
Barrett’s wife purchased the lucky $5 ticket at the Food Lion on Moores Chapel Road in Charlotte.

“We’re building a house and this will help us pay for it,” Barrett said on Thursday. “I might start a college fund for my kid, as well.”

After state and federal taxes were withheld, Barrett received a check for $69,201. As of Thursday afternoon, three $100,000 prizes remain to be claimed in the game.

Ticket sales have made it possible for the lottery to raise more than $3.19 billion for education programs statewide. For details on how more than $254.5 million in lottery funds have made a difference in Mecklenburg County, click on the “Where the Money Goes” tab on the lottery’s website.