When Greensboro resident Rudolph Ruggiero Jr. arrived at the lottery claim center in Greensboro, he had no idea his Cash 5 ticket held a $435,915 jackpot.
“I got a message saying I should go to lottery headquarters,” he said. “I thought maybe I won a couple thousand dollars or something.”
When a lottery employee in Greensboro checked his ticket for him, he found out how much he really won.
“She said, ‘You’ve a very lucky man,’” Ruggiero recalled. “I couldn’t believe it. I was shaking.”
Ruggiero, an electrician for over 50 years, bought his lucky $1 Quick Pick ticket for the Aug. 13 drawing from the Harris Teeter on Battleground Avenue in Greensboro. The odds of matching all five balls are 1 in 962,598.
“The most I’ve won before this is 50 bucks,” Ruggiero laughed.
He claimed his prize Tuesday at lottery headquarters in Raleigh and, after required federal and state tax withholdings, took home $312,770.
He plans to put his winnings in the bank and save for his retirement.
Cash 5 is one of six lottery games in North Carolina where players have the option of buying tickets at a retail location or with Online Play through the lottery’s website or the NC Lottery Official Mobile App. Wednesday’s jackpot is $120,000.
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