Marcus Pitts of Hickory and his wife tried their luck on a few scratch-off tickets and found themselves the lucky winners of a $250,000 top prize.
Pitts and his wife stopped at the Speedway on U.S. 64-70 Southeast in Hickory and purchased a few different scratch-off tickets, one of which was a lucky $5 20X The Cash ticket.
The couple went back home, sat down at their kitchen table, and decided to scratch their tickets.
“I was reading something else and she started screaming and hollering, ‘We won $250,000!’” recalled Pitts. “I said, ‘Ain’t no way, you’re wrong.’ I didn’t believe it. But then I looked at the ticket and that’s what it said.’”
Pitts and his wife, both former textile workers and correctional officers, claimed their prize at lottery headquarters in Raleigh on Thursday. After federal and state tax withholdings, they took home $176,876.
The couple have both battled health problems and plan to use their money to pay off their medical bills. “I’m a very lucky man,” said Pitts, who has been in remission from a form of bone cancer since 2018.
“Medical bills have taken most of our savings,” said Pitts. “We’re gonna pay off some bills and try to do a little traveling. We have two grandkids, one’s a senior getting ready to graduate college and our granddaughter will be a senior in high school, so we’re gonna help them too.”
20X The Cash launched in February with six top prizes of $250,000. One top prize remains to be won. All Multiply the Cash games can also be entered into second-chance drawings on the lottery’s website. Prizes in the drawing include one $100,000 cash prize, eight $5,000 cash prizes, and 25 $500 cash prizes.
The deadline for entries into the third of four drawings is Aug. 31.
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