‘Fake’ lottery ticket was actually real — and held a huge prize for NC jackpot winner
A “fake” lottery ticket was actually the real deal — and it held a huge prize for a North Carolina man.
“I thought it was a fake ticket at first,” winner Jeremy Howard told the N.C. Education Lottery. “I couldn’t believe it.”
Howard’s skepticism came as he discovered his ticket was worth $200,000. That means he scored the first of nine top prizes in the new Mega Bucks scratch-off game, lottery officials wrote in a Sept. 23 news release.
“First thing I did was lock it up in the safe,” Howard said.
Howard kept his ticket out of harm’s way after he took a trip to the R-Mart in Albertson, a roughly 80-mile drive southeast from Raleigh. While at the convenience store, he spent $5 on his lucky Mega Bucks ticket.
Howard, who is from nearby Seven Springs, kept $143,001 after taxes. Now, he hopes to “splurge a little bit” and also finish paying his home and truck loans.
It’s not the first time a prize winner couldn’t believe his luck. In Maryland, another lottery player saw his ticket numbers matched those picked in a drawing and “thought it was fake,” McClatchy News reported in August.
This story was originally published September 23, 2024 at 10:40 AM with the headline "‘Fake’ lottery ticket was actually real — and held a huge prize for NC jackpot winner."
