Aaron Bullock of Butner is the first player to win the $200,000 top prize playing the new Jeep scratch-off game.
Bullock, who works at AW North Carolina, rarely buys scratch-off tickets. But since it was First Tuesday, he decided to stop by his local convenience store to give the new Jeep ticket a try.
“I was sitting there scratching in the store,” said Bullock. “And I kept looking at the numbers thinking, ‘This can’t be real right here.’ Then the cashier asked me, ‘You got something?’ and I said, ‘I think so.’”
Bullock’s shock turned to excitement when the ticket scanner at the store said he was a big winner.
“I just felt joy,” said Bullock. “And I immediately called my fiancé.”
His fiancé, Cheryl, said he wouldn’t tell her what was happening over the phone.
“I was at the store when he called,” said Cheryl. “He told me to stay exactly where I was and that he was coming to me. I had no idea what was going on.”
When Bullock got to the grocery store, the first thing he did was show her the winning ticket.
“I looked at it,” said Cheryl. “And started screaming, ‘You won! You won!’ I think I was more excited than him!”
Bullock, who bought the $5 ticket at the Butner Family Fare on Central Avenue in Butner, claimed his prize Thursday at lottery headquarters in Raleigh. After required state and federal tax withholdings, he took home $139,003. Bullock plans on paying off his truck and saving the rest.
The N.C. Education Lottery and Jeep teamed up to create North Carolina’s first Jeep ticket. Besides a $200,000 top prize, players can enter their tickets into second-chance drawings for a chance to win a Jeep Brand Vehicle. Each of the seven second-chance winners will choose between a 2017 Jeep Wrangler Unlimited Rubicon, Jeep Grand Cherokee Limited, and a Jeep Renegade Trailhawk.
Ticket sales made it possible for the lottery to raise more than $634 million for the state last year. For details on how lottery funds have made a difference in Granville County, click on the “For Education” section of the lottery’s website.