Darrell Riley of Cerro Gordo had a chance to spin a giant prize wheel Wednesday at the Bigger $pin Live Event and he watched in anticipation as the wheel landed on a $500,000 prize.
“I never imagined winning a half-million dollars,” Riley said.
Riley, a 66-year-old construction worker, first got lucky when he bought his $10 Bigger $pin scratch-off from the Circle K on Long Branch Road in Dunn.
“I didn’t know what I won, I just called my wife and said ‘Sweetie, I may have won some money,’” Riley said.
After his big spin Wednesday, Riley now knows he won half a million dollars. After required state and federal tax withholdings, he took home $355,316.
He said he plans to give some of his winnings to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, pay some bills, and go to Hawaii this Thanksgiving with his wife.
“We never took a honeymoon trip so that’s what our Hawaii trip will be,” Riley said.
Watch the winning moment:
Riley is the fifth person to get a chance to win one of the $2 million prizes. At the first event in November, a retired Greensboro postal worker won $900,000 and a Durham cook won $400,000. At the second event in January, a manufacturing plant worker from Fayetteville won $500,000. At the third event in July, a retired certified nursing assistant from Mount Gilead became the first $2 million winner.
One more chance to spin the prize wheel for a $2 million prize is up for grabs in a second-chance drawing. All Bigger $pin tickets can be entered into the drawing. The deadline for entries is Oct. 16 and the drawing is scheduled for Oct. 19.
Ticket sales from scratch-off games make it possible for the lottery to raise more than $2.5 million a day for education. State grants totaling $15 million, using money raised by the lottery, are helping Columbus County and Whiteville City Schools with school construction needs. For details on other ways Columbus County benefits from lottery funds, visit www.nclottery.com and click on the “Impact” section.
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