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A stop at a Triangle gas station ended with a Johnston County man holding a winning lottery ticket.
Kevin Pavel of Clayton won a $250,000 prize playing the 500X The Cash scratch-off game, the North Carolina Education Lottery said in a July 21 news release.
He was on his way to work when he grabbed the $50 ticket from the Mobil gas station/Bull Market on Airport Boulevard in Morrisville.
“It was amazing,” said Pavel, who beat odds of 1 in 1,630,503 to snag the second-tier prize. “I was about to cry.”
Even his wife was in disbelief over his “big hit.”
“She didn’t believe me,” he told lottery officials. “I had to show her a picture of the ticket.”
Pavel claimed his winnings at lottery headquarters Monday, July 20, and took home $180,039 after taxes.
The Johnston County man said he already has plans for his windfall: pay a few bills and plan for retirement.
The 500X The Cash game launched in January with five top prizes worth $10 million - none of which have been won yet, lottery officials said. There are seven $250,000 prizes still up for grabs.
Other recent NC lottery wins
A few lucky North Carolinians have netted big lottery prizes in recent months. Bruce Morgan of Clayton could hardly believe his eyes when he won a $138,239 Cash 5 jackpot last month, The News & Observer reported.
“I was making a delivery and I pulled over to check my numbers and I was like, ‘Wait a minute, what am I seeing,’” the truck driver told lottery officials.
Chapel Hill resident Robert Goss also won $100,000 playing Powerball in May and described his stroke of luck as “kind of a fluke.”
A lottery player in Fayetteville turned their $5 scratch-off into a $200,000 windfall and, before that, a FastPlay ticket sold at a Publix Supermarket in Cary won a $1,578,846 jackpot - the largest in the lottery game’s history, officials said.
Portions of this story previously appeared in The Charlotte Observer.
Many people can gamble or play games of chance without harm. However, for some, gambling is an addiction that can ruin lives and families.
If you or a loved one shows signs of gambling addiction, you can seek help by calling the national gambling hotline at 1-800-522-4700 or visiting the National Council on Problem Gambling website.
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