Tom Haas of Greenville said he had to keep checking his $20 scratch-off ticket after he saw it contained a $100,000 lottery prize.

“I was like, ‘Is this for real,’” Haas said. “I thought there was no way it could be right.”

Haas, 63, bought his lucky Premier Cash ticket from the Circle K on South Memorial Drive in Winterville.

“I just thought, ‘Wow, this is awesome,’” Haas said.

Haas claimed his prize Wednesday at lottery headquarters in Raleigh and, after required federal and state withholdings, took home $71,016. He said he wants to use the prize money to pay off some bills.

The Premier Cash game debuted in August with four top prizes of $2 million and eight $100,000 prizes. Two $2 million prizes and three $100,000 prizes remain to be claimed.

Ticket sales from scratch-off games make it possible for the lottery to raise more than $900 million per year for education. For details on how $10 million raised by the lottery made a difference in Pitt County in 2021, visit www.nclottery.com and click on the “Impact” section.