A retired veteran thought he was making a routine trip to the store to pick up some vegetables for his wife.
Instead, he came home with both groceries and a $2 million scratch-off win, courtesy of the North Carolina Education Lottery.
“She asked me to run to the store,” Moore said. “She wanted me to pick up some vegetables.”
When Moore returned home with his ticket, he handed it to his wife to scratch.
“She said ‘You need to come in here,’” Moore remembers. “I could not believe it.”
Moore, of Dallas, North Carolina bought his lucky $20 Win Big ticket at a local Walmart. He won the first $2 million top prize in the new game.
He chose to take a lump sum payout of $1.2 million and, after required state and federal tax withholdings, took home $858,006.
Moore purchased a brand-new pickup truck only a week before claiming his prize and plans to use some of his winnings to pay it off.
The Win Big game debuted last month with three prizes of $2 million and six prizes of $100,000. After Moore’s win, two $2 million and five $100,000 prizes remain.
Reach Julia LeDoux at Julia@connectingvets.com.