A quick stop for gas scored Jonathan Cook of Live Oak, Florida a $750,000 Jumbo Bucks top prize.
On Saturday morning, Cook stopped at the Circle K on Chicken Foot Road in Hope Mills and purchased a few scratch-off tickets.
“I’m getting ready to move to Hawaii and I said that I was gonna buy scratch-off tickets every time I get gas because I never really buy them,” said Cook.
He scratched his tickets right there in the car. Once he got to his lucky $10 Jumbo Bucks ticket, he scratched almost all the numbers off with no matches, until the last row.
“I saw the little bankroll symbol, and then I scratched the winnings last,” he recalled. “And I said, ‘Woah, it looks like I won $750,000!”
The former allergy and immunology instructor for the military claimed his prize Monday at lottery headquarters in Raleigh. After required federal and state tax withholdings, he took home $530,628.
“When I look at my bank account and I see those numbers for the first time, I might do a little dance,” said Cook.
His winnings will bring him the chance to start a new career after the military. “I’ll retire in three years and then become an investor,” said Cook. “This pretty much kind of jump started it.”
Ticket sales from scratch-offs make it possible for the lottery to raise more than $700 million per year for education. For details on how lottery funds are making a difference in all of North Carolina’s 100 counties, click on the “Impact” section of the lottery’s website, https://www.nclottery.com.