Holt Lunsford, a waiter from Burlington, said his first purchase after winning $150,000 on a scratch-off ticket will be buying his dream car.
“The first thing I’m going to be doing is buying a car that I’ve been looking at for about a year now,” said Lunsford. “It’s a 2004 Mustang, 40th anniversary. I’ve been saving up money to buy it and this is going to make everything so much easier.”
Lunsford stopped at Dave’s Mini Mart on Chapel Hill Road in Burlington for some lottery tickets after his usual store closed early.
After “having a feeling”, he purchased five $5 Extra Play Cashword tickets and went back home. “It turns out that feeling was right,” said Lunsford. The fourth ticket proved a winner.
“I got to about the 8th or 9th word and I just ran and showed my mom before I even finished the ticket,” he said. “I started crying because I realized how big the prize was going to be. I was just so overwhelmingly excited.”
Lunsford shared the news with his mom and sister. “I looked it up online and I saw that it was the last prize available,” recalled Lunsford. “I just sat there, jaw dropped in awe that out of all those chances, it was me.”
Lunsford claimed his prize in Raleigh on Wednesday and after federal and state taxes, he took home $106,126.
“I’m planning on donating a few thousand dollars to my mother and my sister and putting some in a savings account for my 7-year-old niece,” he said.
Lunsford won the last of three top prizes in the Extra Play Cashword game. Since all top prizes have been claimed, the lottery will begin steps to end the game.
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