Concord truck driver wins $277,777

Juan Rivera of Concord said doing yardwork for his mom led to a $277,777 lottery win that will help fulfill a dream of a family business.

Rivera said he stopped at the Speedway on US. 29 North on Friday to get $2 in gas for the lawn mower and decided to try his luck with a “777” ticket. As his wife drove home, he scratched his way to the game’s top prize.

“I scratched it and had to park the car for a minute,” Rivera said Monday as he claimed the prize. “You can’t believe it. You just can’t believe it. You have to look at the ticket, look at it a couple of times.”

Rivera, a truck driver, said he has a longtime dream of starting his own business for other members of his family and, one day, for his children. He said he would like to start a staffing agency and a cleaning service. For fun, he said, he will use some of the money for a family vacation.

“I want to make a better life for my kids,” Rivera said. “I don’t want them to have to work as hard as I did.”

The $5 game launched in April with four top prizes of $277,777. Rivera claimed the last one in the game and, after state and federal tax withholdings, took home $195,837. With the last top prize claimed, the lottery will start the process of ending the game.

Ticket sales from instant games like ‘777’ make it possible for the lottery to raise more than $600 million a year for education. For details on how $13.4 million raised by the lottery supported education programs in Cabarrus County last year, click on the “Impact” section of the lottery’s website, https://www.nclottery.com.