A stop for gas led David Settlemyer of Kannapolis to try his luck on a Fast Play Jackpot 7s ticket and he ended up winning half of the $371,402 jackpot.

“I bought a $10 and a $5 ticket because I had $15,” recalled Settlemyer. “And I won. I wasn’t even sure if it was true.”

Settlemyer, a civil engineer, purchased his lucky $5 Jackpot 7s ticket from the Circle K on Dale Earnhardt Boulevard in Kannapolis.

“I think I more believed it when I went on the lottery website to see what I needed to do and there was a story about somebody on Earnhardt Boulevard that won half the jackpot,” he recalled. “And I said, ‘Okay, it’s true then.’”

He claimed his $185,701 prize Tuesday at lottery headquarters in Raleigh. After required federal and state tax withholdings, he took home $131,385.

With his prize money, Settlemyer said, “I want to just pay off some bills and put the money away for retirement.”

Since Fast Play started last month, jackpots have been hit nine times.

The jackpot is one of the exciting features of the new Fast Play game. The rolling, progressive jackpot increases with every ticket sold until it is won. The odds of winning a Fast Play jackpot are 1 in 240,000.

“I’ve tried Fast Play a couple times and won,” said Settlemyer. “This is something fast and easy.”

Printed on each ticket is the amount of the jackpot when the ticket is sold and how much of that jackpot the ticket could win. Players can also win instant cash prizes on their Fast Play ticket.

Ticket sales from draw games like Fast Play make it possible for the lottery to raise more than $725 million per year for education. For details on how $14.5 million raised by the lottery made a difference in Cabarrus County in 2019, visit www.nclottery.com and click on the “Impact” section.