While coming home from an out-of-town trip, Timmy Childress of Sherrills Ford stopped to try his luck on a Millionaire Maker ticket and won himself a $100,000 prize.

“Something told me to stop and get a scratch-off ticket,” he recalled.

So, Childress pulled over at the Times on Village Center North in Sherrills Ford and purchased two scratch-offs. Still standing in the store, he began scratching off his tickets.

But, as he scratched his Millionaire Maker ticket, Childress’ friend walked up, distracting him.

“I hadn’t scratched off the prize yet, but I handed it to the lady behind the counter,” he recalled. “She scanned it and you know when you scan it and it’s a big prize, you hear the sound and she said, ‘Honey, you have to take this to lottery headquarters!’ When I scratched it off, that’s when I realized it was big money.”

Childress claimed his prize Friday at lottery headquarters in Raleigh and took home $70,759 after required federal and state tax withholdings.

“It feels great,” he said. “Amazing. It’s like a dream come true.”

Childress plans to use his prize money for some home renovations and to make himself a bit “more comfortable”.

The $30 Millionaire Maker game launched in March with 30 top prizes of $1 million and 10 $100,000 prizes. Seventeen $1 million and six $100,000 prizes remain to be won.

Ticket sales from scratch-off games like Millionaire Maker make it possible for the lottery to raise more than $725 million per year for education. A $10 million grant, using money raised by the lottery, will help Catawba County to replace a 57-year-old building with a new academic wing at Newton-Conover High School.

For details on other ways Catawba County benefits from lottery funds, visit www.nclottery.com and click on the “Impact” section.