Bernard Phelps of Magnolia stopped for gas Tuesday morning and couldn’t believe his eyes when a $50 scratch-off purchase delivered him a $100,000 prize.
“I thought I was seeing things,” he laughed.
Phelps bought his lucky $10 Million Spectacular ticket from Tiger Mart on N.C. 24 in Warsaw.
“That was just the first ticket I looked at,” Phelps recalled.
He arrived at lottery headquarters Thursday to claim his prize and, after required federal and state tax withholdings, took home $71,514.
Phelps said he didn’t have plans yet for his winnings but said he would “make sure it gets spent wisely.”
The $10 Million Spectacular game debuted in December with five top prizes of $10 million, 20 prizes of $1 million and 20 prizes of $100,000. Three $10 million prizes, 13 $1 million prizes and 10 $100,000 prizes remain to be claimed.
For details on how $4.5 million raised by the lottery made a difference for education programs in Duplin County last year, visit www.nclottery.com and click on the “Impact” section.