RALEIGH – A manufacturing worker from Marion says winning $4 million instantly means he can buy a house – and maybe call it a career.

Carl Hooper was running errands Thursday morning when he stopped at KG’s Quik Stop on Rutherford Road in Marion. There, he decided to buy a ticket for the 100X The Cash game because it was new. Hooper scratched it off in the store and was awed to see he’d won $4 million.

“Boom there it was,” he said Friday at lottery headquarters. “I believe I went into shock.”

The clerk asked Hooper if he won anything, but he was too stunned to respond.

“I couldn’t say yes, I couldn’t say no – I just showed it to him,” Hooper recalled. “He said to me, ‘$4 million, that’s what I’m seeing!’”

A $4 million prize in the game can be claimed in 20 annuity payments of $200,000 or a one-time payment of $2.4 million. Hooper chose the lump sum, worth $1.6 million after taxes.

Hooper works for Baxter Healthcare, a company that manufactures medical products. As part of his schedule, he said he works 12-hour shifts every other weekend. But maybe not for long.

“I was planning on retiring,” said Hooper, who will be 62 in May. “Now I probably will.”

Hooper’s win marks the second major lottery win this week for a McDowell County player. Jack Piercy Jr. on Wednesday claimed a $1 million prize he won playing the $1,000,000 Jackpot game.

Hooper is also the second player to win a seven-figure prize playing 100X The Cash since tickets went on sale this week. The first is a Wake County man who tried his luck and claimed $1 million on Tuesday. With Hooper’s win, two top prizes of $4 million and four $1 million prizes remain to be claimed.

Ticket sales made it possible for the lottery to raise more than half a billion for the state last year. For details on how more than $13.8 million in lottery funds have made a difference for specific education programs in McDowell County, click on the “Where the Money Goes” tab on the lottery’s website.