When most people win the lottery, their first thought is how to spend the money. When Christopher Gueho of Fletcher won $750,000 playing Jumbo Bucks, his was where to hide his ticket.

“I was a nervous wreck,” Gueho said.

Gueho, a maintenance worker at a retirement home, wanted to keep his ticket in a safe place until he could claim his prize.

“At first I thought I’d store it in the spare room at my mom’s home,” Gueho said. “Then I thought maybe the freezer, because no one would look behind the pork chops for a lottery ticket.”

In the end, he stored it in a paint sprayer until he brought it to lottery headquarters in Raleigh on Wednesday. After required state and federal tax withholdings, he took home $519,378. He plans to use the money to buy a house.

“I never thought I’d be able to have my own home.” Gueho said.

He bought the $10 ticket at Kounty Line Fletcher on Hendersonville Road in Arden.

Ticket sales from games like Jumbo Bucks made it possible for the lottery to raise more than $634 million for the state last year. For details on how more than $32 million in lottery funds has made a difference in Henderson County, click on the “For Education” section of the lottery’s website.