His hunch to buy a lottery ticket in North Carolina turns into ‘life-changing’ win
.jpg "The man said he woke up one morning with the strong feeling he should buy a lottery ticket that day. (AP Photo/Gerry Broome)")
A man from Clyde, North Carolina, went home with a life-changing win that he says is all because of a random hunch he had when he woke up one morning.
Jason Matchett, a 53-year-old carpenter, woke up on Feb. 3 with a weird feeling that he should buy a lottery ticket, he told lottery officials. He bought a $10 Fast Play ticket and said he started to scream when the numbers printed out.
“I was watching the screen while my ticket was printing out and I saw the jackpot go all the way back down so I knew I won,” Matchett told lottery officials. “I started jumping up and down and screaming.”
His hunch had won him $293,690 in Fast Play’s rolling jackpot.
“I took a chance and, heck yeah, I won,” Matchett said. “This is life-changing.”
Matchett bought his Lucky 7’s ticket from Gifts & Tobacco Barn on Carolina Boulevard in Clyde, according to lottery officials. When he cashed in his prize at the lottery headquarters in Raleigh, he walked out with $208,552 in his pocket, after state and federal taxes.
Matchett first celebrated his lucky win with a purchase of a new Range Rover, he told lottery officials.
The odds of winning a Fast Play jackpot like Matchett’s are 1-in-240,000, according to the North Carolina Education Lottery. The progressive jackpot increases as more players buy tickets until the jackpot is won. Tickets that cost $10, like Lucky 7’s, give players a chance to collect 100% of the jackpot if they win.
Clyde is about 142 miles west of Charlotte.
This story was originally published February 4, 2022 at 7:41 PM with the headline "His hunch to buy a lottery ticket in North Carolina turns into ‘life-changing’ win."
