Beginner’s luck? Man plays NC lottery game for the first time — and hits the jackpot

A North Carolina man played a lottery game for the first time — and hit the jackpot.

Now, after the stroke of beginner’s luck left Michael Eaves much richer, he may donate some of his prize money to charity or his church, according to the N.C. Education Lottery.

Eaves scored the $331,792 jackpot prize after he took a chance on the Cash 5 drawing game. He said he was sitting in his recliner when he used his smartphone to go online and buy a Quick Pick ticket, meaning the lottery randomly chose the Cash 5 numbers for him.

“It was my first time playing that game,” Eaves told lottery officials in an Aug. 21 news release.

And when Eaves checked his $1 ticket the next morning, he told his wife that he believed it was worth much more.

“I still wasn’t certain,” he said. “When I decided it was real, we began discussing how we were going to use the money.”

The two said Eaves might spend his winnings on his house, car payments or donations. He kept $236,404 after taxes.

Eaves — who beat 1-in-962,598 odds to win big — lives in the Sampson County town of Clinton, roughly 65 miles south of Raleigh.

Lottery newcomers aren’t strangers to winning big in North Carolina. In October, the lottery said a man had a sleepless night after his second-ever ticket scored him a jackpot prize, McClatchy News reported.

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