Man stopping for a drink scores winning NC lottery ticket. ‘2021 went out with a bang’
A man was getting a drink on New Year’s Eve when he bought a lottery ticket worth $1 million.
“2021 went out with a bang,” Joseph Rose told the North Carolina Education Lottery in a news release.
It turns out, it wasn’t Rose’s first stroke of luck.
The same day that Rose hit the jackpot, he won $250 in a scratch-off game. And in 2016, he scored a $150,000 prize, officials said.
This time around, the N.C. Education Lottery said Rose was heading to a New Year’s Eve dinner when he stopped to grab a drink near the coast in Morehead City, roughly 150 miles southeast of Raleigh.
While at a Handy Mart convenience store, he spent $20 on a ticket for the Winter Winnings lottery game. He scratched his lucky ticket in the parking lot then went back into the store to make sure his big win was the real deal, officials said.
“It blew me away,” Rose said in the news release. “I can’t quit smiling. It’s going to take a whole lot to top this one.”
Rose, a landscaping company employee, took his $1 million prize as a lump sum. He kept $426,066 after taxes and plans to put the money toward home improvements and retirement, officials said.
“It was a blessing,” Rose told the N.C. Education Lottery. “Somebody was going to win it. I’m glad it was me. It’s going to make life a little easier.”
It’s not the first time someone’s thirst has led them to a big lottery win in North Carolina.
In July, officials said a woman was craving a Dr Pepper when she tried her luck on a scratch-off ticket worth $2 million.
The same month, another lottery player bought a prize-winning ticket while at a convenience store to get a cup of coffee, McClatchy News reported.
This story was originally published January 4, 2022 at 8:06 AM with the headline "Man stopping for a drink scores winning NC lottery ticket. ‘2021 went out with a bang’."
