Donald Spivey of Tabor City stopped at a store on Saturday for a bottle of water, added a scratch-off ticket, and quenched his thirst with a $200,000 prize.
“Something just told me to go ahead and get it,” Spivey said.
He said he initially planned to buy a scratch-off ticket with a $150,000 top prize.
“When I saw the $200,000 top prize, I changed my mind and got that one,” he recalled.
Spivey bought his lucky $5 Mega Bucks ticket at Minuteman Food Mart on North U.S. 701 Bypass in Tabor City. He arrived at lottery headquarters Monday to collect his prize and, after required state and federal tax withholdings, took home $142,501.
“I’m not far from retirement so that will be a nice bump,” Spivey said.
In addition to saving for retirement, he said he will put the rest of the money aside ‘for a rainy day.’
The Mega Bucks game debuted this month with eight $200,000 top prizes. Six $200,000 prizes remain to be claimed.
Ticket sales from scratch-off games make it possible for the lottery to raise $2.5 million a day on average for education. Columbus County and Whiteville City Schools have received grants totaling $15 million to help meet new 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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