RALEIGH – Melvin Akers of China Grove plans to use the $250,000 he won playing the All or Nothing game to pay off his mortgage, do some remodeling to his beach house and go fishing.

Players of the All or Nothing game win the top prize if they match all 12 numbers or none of the 12 numbers. Akers’ Quick Pick ticket captured the top prize by matching all of the numbers in the Jan. 10 daytime drawing.

Akers, who worked as a Rowan County deputy sheriff for 30 years, enjoys talking to people at King’s Quick Stop on West Ryder Avenue in Landis. When the store’s owner told him about the new game and a special promotion the lottery was running to support it, he decided to try his luck.

“He told me if I bought two tickets I’d get a free ticket automatically,” Akers said. “So I bought two tickets and I won on the free one. When they scanned my ticket and told me what I had won, I just stood there feeling stunned.”

After state and federal taxes were withheld, Akers received a check for $173,125.

The All or Nothing game started in September as part of the lottery’s effort to raise more money this year for education.

To play All or Nothing, players choose 12 out of 24 numbers. The game offers 10 ways to win with prizes that begin at $2 and go to $250,000. Tickets cost $2 each and drawings occur every day at approximately 12:30 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. Odds of winning the top prize are 1 in 2,704,156 and the approximate overall odds of winning including breakeven prizes are 1 in 4.54.

The special All or Nothing promotion has been underway since Dec. 8. When players make a single All or Nothing purchase of $4 on one ticket, they'll automatically get a free $2 Quick Pick ticket. The promotion lasts through Jan. 31.

Ticket sales made it possible for the lottery to raise more than half a billion for the state last year. 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 $44.1 million in lottery funds have made a difference for specific education programs in Rowan County, click on the “Where the Money Goes” tab on the lottery’s website.