$1 lottery ticket turns into big prize for NC man. Now, he hopes to help his family
A North Carolina man spent $1 on a lottery ticket — and it turned into a huge jackpot prize.
As Roosevelt Manuel III basked in his six-figure win, he told the N.C. Education Lottery he wanted to use the prize money to help his family.
“It will probably take a couple more days to really sink in,” the 70-year-old winner said in a Jan. 26 news release.
Manuel hit the jackpot after he played the Cash 5 drawing game. Officials said he bought his lucky lottery ticket at Catamount Pump & Go in Sylva, about 45 miles southwest of the mountain town of Asheville.
Then during a Jan. 14 drawing, his ticket matched enough numbers to score the top prize. The ticket — which beat 1-in-962,598 odds to win big — was worth $458,841.
The win meant Manuel’s longtime “prediction came true,” officials said.
“I kept saying one of these days I’m going to win,” he told the N.C. Education Lottery.
Manuel, who lives in Jackson County, kept $326,925 after taxes.
It’s not the first time a $1 lottery ticket has led to a much bigger prize. One of them left a winner “happily shocked,” while another meant a North Carolina man could focus on home buying, McClatchy News reported.
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