Jose Ponce Rodriguez of Dudley said a dream of buying a home now can become a reality after he bought a $5 scratch-off and won a $200,000 prize.
“I’ve been planning to buy a home and now we have an opportunity to actually do it,” Rodriguez said.
Rodriguez, a 27-year-old farmer, bought his lucky Cash Payout ticket from Mount Olive Mobile & Tobacco on North Breazeale Avenue in Mount Olive.
“When I saw the prize I just stood for a while looking at it,” Rodriguez said. “I kept saying to myself ‘Is this real?’”
Rodriguez said he wanted to tell his wife the good news as soon as he could.
“I showed her the ticket when I got home and she just started laughing,” Rodriguez said. “She couldn’t believe it was really true.”
Rodriguez arrived at lottery headquarters Friday to collect his prize and, after required state and federal tax withholdings, took home $142,021.
He said in addition to buying a house he would like to help out some family members as well.
Cash Payout debuted in May with five $200,000 prizes. Three $200,000 prizes remain to be claimed.
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