Brian Murphy of Durham said he plans to make his daughter’s college dreams come true after he won a $200,000 lottery prize.
“She’s finishing her final year of school,” Murphy said. “She’s double majoring in anthropology and environmental science. Now she’ll be able to graduate without any student loans. It’s something she never imagined. It’s going to be a leg up for her. “
The warehouse worker’s good luck happened Friday after work. On the way home, Murphy stopped by the Harris Teeter on O’Kelly Chapel Road in Cary and bought a scratch-off ticket. He put the money in the vending machine, but was torn about which ticket to get.
“I couldn’t decide between Carolina Black and this one,” Murphy said.
He chose the Lucky 7 Bonus scratch-off ticket.
“I’m so glad I did,” Murphy said. “I might have missed out on all of this.”
He took the ticket home and didn’t scratch it until the next morning. When Murphy saw the ‘26’ and ‘26’, he knew he won something.
“I was like, ‘Wow! It’s a hit,’” Murphy said. “When I saw the prize amount I thought, ‘That can’t be right.’ And then I was like, ‘Oh my God!’ I lost it after that.”
Murphy didn’t truly believe it until he used the lottery phone app to scan his ticket.
“It said I needed to go to lottery headquarters,” Murphy said. “So I knew I wasn’t dreaming.”
Murphy claimed his prize Monday at lottery headquarters in Raleigh. After required state and federal tax withholdings, he took home $141,501.
The $5 ticket launched in April. Six top prizes of $200,000 remain.
Ticket sales from games like Lucky 7 Bonus make it possible for the lottery to raise more than $650 million a year for education. For details on how $13.8 million in lottery funds made a difference in Durham County last year, click on the “Impact” section of the lottery’s website.
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I think something the lottery should do is show a picture of the winning ticket along with the story. Would make the article more interesting with the pic of the winning ticket, who agrees?