Jason Matchett of Clyde said he had a hunch on Thursday morning so he bought a $10 Fast Play ticket which paid off with a $293,690 jackpot.

“I took a chance and, heck yeah, I won,” Matchett said. “This is life changing.”

Matchett said he realized he hit the jackpot before he even looked at his ticket.

“I was watching the screen while my ticket was printing out and I saw the jackpot go all the way back down so I knew I won,” Matchett said. “I started jumping up and down and screaming.”

Matchett, a 53-year-old carpenter, bought his Lucky 7’s ticket from the Gifts & Tobacco Barn on Carolina Boulevard in Clyde. He claimed his prize Friday at lottery headquarters in Raleigh and, after required state and federal tax withholdings, took home $208,552. He said he celebrated his win with a purchase of a Range Rover.

Fast Play’s rolling, progressive jackpot increases with every ticket sold until it is won. A $10 ticket, like Lucky 7’s, receives 100 percent of the jackpot amount. The odds of winning a Fast Play jackpot are 1 in 240,000.

Players can see if they have won and how much instantly with Fast Play. 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 tickets.

Ticket sales from draw games like Fast Play make it possible for the lottery to raise more than $900 million per year for education. For details on how money raised by the lottery made a difference in Haywood County in 2020, visit www.nclottery.com and click on the “Impact” section.