NEED TO KNOW
Jeffrey Douglas of Cherryville, N.C. was able to give his wife a 31st anniversary gift totaling more than $70,000 dollars
He bought a $100,000 prize-winning lottery ticket on Aug. 17, which just so happened to be the day of their anniversary
The North Carolina Education Lottery revealed how the couple would be using the money in a press release
A husband and wife in North Carolina are nearly $100,000 richer after getting lucky while playing the lottery.
Jeffrey Douglas, a resident of Cherryville, N.C., picked up the fated scratch-off lottery ticket from Times Turn Around on East Main Street in Lincolnton, N.C. on Sunday, Aug. 17, according to a press release from the North Carolina Education Lottery.
He told lottery officials that it was a special day for such a big win playing the $10 Million Spectacular; Aug. 17 was also he and his wife’s 31st wedding anniversary.
How did his wife reply to the big news? “I texted her a picture of the ticket and she said, ‘Call me,’ ” Douglas recalled with laugh.
After taxes, Douglas and his wife were given $71,764 by lottery officials on Tuesday, Aug. 19.
“It was pretty awesome,” he gushed, adding, “It’s a blessing.”
He said that the money would go toward his family and his tree-cutting business, joking, “Do you know how many trees you have to cut to win this much money?”
First released in December 2023, the $10 Million Spectacular is a scratch-off lottery ticket that had a limited number of $10 million grand prizes. Players could also find cards with either a $1 million or $100,000 prize.
The game is still ongoing in the state with a final $10 million ticket yet to be unveiled, per lottery officials.
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The Douglas family isn’t alone in recently having big wins in the lottery.
A grandmother of 10 who overcame breast cancer won a historic $2 million prize in the Pennsylvania lottery earlier this month after winning the largest prize ever awarded from the state’s MONOPOLY Progressive Jackpots.
There was another historic lottery win in Virginia, where a player won a $348 million prize in the Mega Millions drawing. They ended up taking home $155.6 million in a one-time payout and planned to buy a zero-radius lawn mower as their first big splurge.
In Michigan, a man who won $300 on one ticket reinvested some of his winnings by purchasing another ticket, which led to a $714,891 win.
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