RALEIGH – Sharafe Salah Abdel Jawad of Wallace is the latest player to win the top prize in the $500 a Week for Life! instant scratch-off game. He purchased the lucky $1 ticket at the Super Fast Lane on N.C. 41 in Wallace.

The $500 a Week for Life! top prize guarantees winners an annual prize of $26,000 for the rest of their lives. The winner can also choose a lump sum cash prize, worth $354,000, instead of the annuity. Jawad chose the lump sum option and received a check for $244,968 after state and federal taxes were withheld.

As of Tuesday morning, two more top prizes remain to be claimed in the game.

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 $18.4 million in lottery funds have made a difference in Duplin County, click on the “Where the Money Goes” tab on the lottery’s website.