On Wednesday, Marquetton Carraway of Goldsboro ran into a store to grab mac’n’cheese for dinner and walked out $200,000 richer.

“I was actually going to the store to by macaroni and cheese to cook,” Carraway recalled. “When I got to the counter, the man gave me my change and I was about to walk out the store until something told me to, ya know, buy a ticket.”

And so he did.

He waited until he got home to scratch the $5 Mega Bucks ticket, and couldn’t believe what he saw. He immediately called his mom.

“At the time, she was on a business call,” said Carraway. “And I told her that her business was now over.”

He sent her a picture of the ticket and asked her to “make sure I’m not seeing things.” She confirmed the big win.

Carraway bought his lucky ticket from Madison Market Grill on Madison Avenue in Goldsboro. He claimed his prize Thursday at lottery headquarters in Raleigh. After federal and state tax withholdings, he took home $141,501.

He says the first thing he’ll do is buy a house and treat his family to all the things they couldn’t do before they came into their big win.

Ticket sales from scratch-off games make it possible for the lottery to raise more than $725 million a year for education. For details on how $8 million raised by the lottery made a difference in Wayne County in 2019, visit www.nclottery.com and click on the “Impact” section.