Lottery player wins historic Keno prize in NC — and all he wants is a deer stand
Steven Brown set a state record when he won big in the Carolina Keno lottery game and the result was enough money to buy an expensive sports car, an extravagant fishing boat or an RV.
He wants none of those, however. Brown, a hunter, says he’s going to get a new deer stand.
His prize set a record for the largest Carolina Keno win by an individual in state history, the N.C. Education Lottery said in a March 24 news release.
“It was a shock,” Brown said. “I was sitting in my kitchen watching the numbers and I kept seeing my numbers hit one after another.”
By the time the last number was chosen, he had won $135,000, the state says. The closest anyone has come to winning that much is a $150,000 prize split between two people in 2021, officials said.
He claimed the money March 23, and the winnings came to $95,645 after tax withholdings. A really nice deer stand is about $500 on Amazon.com.
Brown says he was feeling lucky before buying the ticket — and he was.
Carolina Keno is among the most unpredictable of the state’s lottery games. Players choose how many numbers (or spots) they want to play and that determines the odds and the prize, the state says.
“Brown’s big win came when he matched all seven numbers in the 7 Spot game to win $4,500,” lottery officials said.
“He played $3 on the ticket so his prize tripled to $13,500. His ticket also included the multiplier and, when the 10X multiplier came up, his $13,500 win multiplied to $135,000.”
Brown bought the ticket at Sam’s Pit Stop in his hometown of Bolton. He won using a philosophy that calls for playing the same numbers, over and over, in a belief that they’ll eventually pay off.
Game officials did not reveal how many times he had played before finally hitting it big with the numbers.
“I always believed that one day it would happen for me,” he said.
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