Shawn Horsley Jr. of Sneads Ferry got to the counter on Saturday and couldn’t decide which ticket to buy, so he used an old children’s rhyme to help and won the first $200,000 prize in a new game.
“I did eeny, meeny, miny, moe,” he laughed. “That’s the first time I tried that.”
Horsley bought his lucky $5 Pot of Gold ticket from the Scotchman on N.C. 210 in Holly Ridge.
“I double, triple, quadruple checked it,” he recalled.
Horsley had his fiancé and kids with him in the car when he scratched his ticket.
“We started crying when we saw it,” he said.
He arrived at lottery headquarters Tuesday to claim his prize and, after required state and federal tax withholdings, took home $143,001.
Horsley plans to use his winnings to fix up his house, help some people, and put the rest in savings.
The Pot of Gold game debuted in December with four $200,000 top prizes. Three $200,000 prizes remain to be claimed.
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