Aaron Keers of Fort Mill, S.C., needed to take some time to process what just happened after a $30 digital instant play won him a $1.03 million jackpot.
“I took a lap and took a minute to calm down,” he laughed.
Keers lives in South Carolina but works in North Carolina. He won the top level “Grand Fortune” jackpot in the Monopoly game on Jan. 22. The digital instant game features a progressive jackpot that can be won at any time. The odds of that win were 1 in 1.6 million.
“That was a wild roller coaster of emotions,” he recalled.
Keers said he called his wife to share the big news with her.
“I called her and said, ‘Hey our lives just changed,’” Keers said. “She didn’t believe it at first.”
He claimed his prize Friday at lottery headquarters and, after required federal and state tax withholdings, took home $743,340.
Keers plans to use his winnings to pay some bills.
After his big win, the jackpot reset at $150,000 and has climbed to over $583,000 as of Friday afternoon.
Digital instant games are played exclusively online on the lottery’s website or on the NC Lottery Official Mobile App. Sixty-four different games are available to play online now.
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