Lottery win comes at ‘perfect’ time for dad looking for house. ‘Loving North Carolina’
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Bryan Lofton and his family recently moved from Maryland to North Carolina, but they still haven’t found the perfect home. Their house hunt just got a whole lot easier — thanks to a $5 lottery ticket.
Lofton, 39, bought the scratch-off ticket and got a big surprise: a $200,000 prize, according to a Monday, Oct. 31, news release from lottery officials.
“My heart was racing,” Lofton told officials. “I read it like 50 times to make sure.”
After he was sure he had won, Lofton called his wife, but she didn’t believe him.
“I’m a prankster,” he said. “I’m always playing jokes on her.”
Lofton’s prize was the real deal. He collected his winnings, $142,021 after tax withholdings, on Friday, Oct. 28, according to officials.
“This comes at the perfect time for us,” Lofton said. “We are currently in the middle of searching for a home to buy.”
Officials said Lofton bought his winning ticket from a Sheetz on U.S. 29 North in Greensboro, about 100 miles northeast of Charlotte.
“I already liked it here but I’m definitely loving North Carolina now,” he said. “This is just icing on the cake.”
This story was originally published October 31, 2022 at 2:36 PM with the headline "Lottery win comes at ‘perfect’ time for dad looking for house. ‘Loving North Carolina’."
