Abdellatif Tlili of Raleigh stuck with the numbers 8-8-8-8 in the Pick 4 game for years and his persistence paid off with a $100,000 win.

“I almost gave up a couple times but I’m glad I didn’t,” Tlili said. “It was my dream to win.”

Tlili won his big prize when “Quads” came up in the Jan. 12 afternoon Pick 4 drawing. The drawing produced $12.2 million in prizes for lottery players, the most ever won in a single drawing in the game.

The game’s top prize of $5,000 went to all 8-8-8-8 players with a $1 ticket. Tlili had 20 $1 tickets that he purchased using Online Play so he won a combined $100,000.

“I was with my wife and kids when we found out,” he recalled. “We all started jumping up and down.”

Tlili said he plays 8-8-8-8 because of advice from an old friend.

“She told me to keep playing the 8’s,” Tlili said. “I had told her I won with 8-8-8 playing Pick 3 and she said I should just add one more 8 and do Pick 4.”

He claimed his prize on Tuesday at lottery headquarters and, after required state tax withholdings, took home $95,751.

Tlili plans to use his winnings to help take care of his children.

Pick 4 is one of six lottery games in North Carolina where players have the option of buying their tickets at a retail location or with Online Play through the lottery’s website or the NC Lottery Official Mobile App.

For details on how $62.7 million raised by the lottery made a difference for Wake County education programs last year, visit www.nclottery.com and click on the “Impact” section.