Lottery player ‘shocked’ after winning NC jackpot. ‘I’ve never seen such a thing’
A lottery player hit the jackpot, and the six-figure prize left him “shocked.”
“I’ve never seen such a thing,” winner Herminio Rivera told the North Carolina Education Lottery. “That’s a lot of money.”
Rivera won $150,000 after stopping at the Legion Mart gas station in Fayetteville, a roughly 65-mile drive south from Raleigh. While there, he spent $5 on a ticket for the Loteria Fiesta game, lottery officials wrote in a Sept. 26 news release.
It turns out, Rivera beat more than 1-in-1.2 million odds to win a top prize in the scratch-off game. He scanned his lucky ticket and learned he needed to bring it to the lottery’s headquarters, not knowing how much it was worth at first.
“I thought I won $2,000,” Rivera said. “I was shocked.”
The winner, who lives in Fayetteville, kept $107,626 after taxes. Now, he hopes to share his prize money with his family.
It’s not the first time a lottery player has been mistaken about their winning ticket. Another North Carolina man thought his ticket was worth $10 — then the truth left him “flabbergasted,” McClatchy News reported in February.
This story was originally published September 29, 2025 at 2:45 PM with the headline "Lottery player ‘shocked’ after winning NC jackpot. ‘I’ve never seen such a thing’."
