A family tradition of buying a lottery ticket turned lucky for Faustino Diaz of Spring Lake and his daughter Lynnette Diaz-Miller of Richmond,Va., after they won the top $250,000 All or Nothing prize.
Diaz is a retired printer and Diaz-Miller is a Logistics Officer stationed at Ft. Bragg. The two have been buying lottery tickets together for years, but this is their first big win.
“This is a dream,” Diaz-Miller said.
“You never believe you could match all 12 numbers,” Diaz responded.
They claimed their prize Friday at lottery headquarters in Raleigh. They split $250,000 and after required state and federal tax withholdings, they each took home $86,563. Diaz plans to use the money to help his family, and Diaz-Miller plans to use the money to pay off her student loans.
They bought the winning $2 ticket at the Murphy Express on Lillington Highway in Spring Lake.
To win the $250,000 top prize, players must match all 12 numbers or none of them. They beat the 1 in 2,704,156 odds to match all 12 numbers.
Ticket sales from games like All or Nothing made it possible for the lottery to raise more than half a billion dollars for the state last year. For details on how over $155 million in lottery funds has made a difference in Cumberland County, click on the “For Education” section of the lottery’s website.