$100,000 win means dream trip to Grand Canyon for Mecklenburg County man

May 9, 2018 Posted by NC Lottery at 1:53 PM

Mario Gomez Saldana II of Mint Hill said he plans to take a dream trip to the Grand Canyon after he won $100,000 playing the $5,000,000 Mega Cash scratch-off game.

“I’ve always wanted to go there,” Gomez Saldana said. “Now I’ll have the chance.”

His good fortune happened Monday just before midnight when he stopped by the Circle K on Lawyers Road in Charlotte and bought the $20 ticket.

“I was just planning to get some snacks,” Gomez Saldana explained. “I grabbed an Airhead, and some Cheerwine. I decided at the last minute to get a lottery ticket.”

The house painter scratched the ticket in the store.

“I got to the last number and couldn’t believe it,” Gomez Saldana said. “I started shaking. I’ve only bought like 10 lottery tickets in my life. It’s crazy!”

Gomez Saldana claimed his prize Tuesday at lottery headquarters in Raleigh. After required state and federal tax withholdings, he took home $70,507. Besides his trip, he plans to take the summer off.

Congratulations!

10 COMMENTS

5/11/2018 05:46 - Tracey T.

I cant win I buy the same ones everyday and enter them on the mobile app,I just wish i could break even sometimes,I dont understand it.

5/10/2018 08:31 - Corey P.

Mecklenburg county (1 of 100) has ~10% of the entire states population.. sooo yeah there’s going to be a lot of winners from there. There’s no scam, just simple statistics.

5/10/2018 11:16 - Michael B.

Congratulations! How cool to be able to go on a wonderful vacation and take time off! Just wondering! The odds stated by the lottery of winning for each ticket are not the same when comparing the cities verse the rural areas so I assume the odds are calculated on all sales state wide???NC Lottery
Hi Michael, Actually, the odds of winning any given game are the same whether you are in a large city or in a rural town -- or even the middle of nowhere. There are simply more people playing the lottery in the cities, because the population is higher. The lottery can only work if everyone has the same chance to win, and no matter where you live you have the same chance to beat the odds as someone anyplace else. Remember, it just takes one ticket!

5/10/2018 09:52 - Radford H.

I guess my point is ,even though there's lots of people in bigger cities,that doesn't mean a lot of big tickets are in your area.lol. Raleigh is big,but you hear of sporadic big win.

5/10/2018 07:02 - Maurice H.

Bless you!

5/10/2018 01:04 - Sonya D.

Congratulations!!!! Enjoy your summer!

5/09/2018 09:13 - William A.

These tickets should of already been pulled yea the guy got lucky but these tickets have been out way way way to long.NC Lottery
Hey William, This game was released in May of last year, but there are still a few top prizes remaining! Generally, we won't discontinue a game until all of the top prizes are won. You can see what prize amounts are left for this scratch-off here: https://www.nclottery.com/ScratchOffDetail?gn=551

5/09/2018 08:53 - Radford H.

I'm an open minded guy,but it does seem like the Charlotte area hits on many levels of big prize tickets.lol. Of course the winners are all over. But Charlotte has a ton more.NC Lottery
You are correct, Radford. We do have more winners from the larger cities simply because there is a larger population of people playing the lottery there. We have plenty of winners from rural areas as well!

5/09/2018 05:30 - Marsha L.

Was the drawing for the extreme millions second chance drawing have a winner already...NC Lottery
Hey Marsha, The latest drawing for the Extreme Millions Second Chance drawing was in January. There are still 2 drawings left, but draw dates have not been set yet -- so stay tuned!

5/09/2018 04:01 - joanie m.

Was their a Jeep that was won on 4/4/2018 I have not seen it on my second chance it only has the ones for 2017 if you google it says their was a drawing for it on 4/4/18 I have not seen a winner eitherNC Lottery
Hey Joanie, Yes, there was a winner! If you navigate to the "Draws" page on the Lucke-Rewards app and then select the "Second Chance" tab, you should be able to find it. Make sure that when you're on that tab, you have it set to "all" entries so that you can see drawings in the past. Hope this helps!

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$100,000 win means dream trip to Grand Canyon for Mecklenburg County man

May 9, 2018 Posted by NC Lottery at 1:53 PM