An evening coffee run turned into more than just a pick-me-up after Roger Coleman of Darlington, S.C. won the top $100,000 prize in the Crossword Money Multiplier game.

Coleman, a truck technician, works in Greensboro during the week and gets a cup of coffee and a lottery ticket every night.

To win the top prize, players must get ten words. When Coleman first scratched the ticket he thought he only had five, but then he counted again.

“I was in shock, I had to have my wife count it three times,” Coleman said. “I feel like I’m dreaming. It’s so surreal.”

He claimed his prize Tuesday at lottery headquarters in Raleigh. After federal and state tax withholdings, he took home $69,251. He plans to donate some of the money to his church and then get a motorcycle.

Coleman bought the $5 ticket at the Circle K on Norcross Road in Colfax.
Crossword Money Multiplier launched in January with four top prizes of $100,000. Two top prizes remain.

Ticket sales from games like Crossword Money Multiplier make it possible for the lottery to earn on average more than $1.4 million a day for education. To learn how education programs in North Carolina’s 100 counties benefit from lottery funds visit the “For Education” page on the lottery's website.