NC man had a hunch: Buy this $30 lottery ticket and win big. He hit the jackpot

A North Carolina man said an inner voice repeatedly urged him to buy a ticket in a $30 scratch-off game. He’s glad he listened, as the ticket landed him a $5 million jackpot, lottery officials said Thursday.

“When I scratched it, I couldn’t believe what I saw,” the man said when he claimed his prize at lottery headquarters in Raleigh on Thursday, according to a lottery news release.

Concord resident Eric Walker bought the 200X The Cash ticket from the lottery vending machine at the Food Lion on Main Street in Locust, officials said. Walker works at the store and bought the ticket before the start of his shift, according to the lottery.

He beat odds of 1 in 2.96 million, according to the 200X The Cash page on the lottery website.

He decided to receive the money in $250,000 annual payments for 20 years, officials said. He also could have chosen to take the jackpot as a $3 million lump sum, according to the lottery.

After taxes, he took home $178,759, officials said. For the next 19 years, he’ll get a $250,000 check until the full $5 million prize is paid.

“At the end of the day, taking the annuity made the most sense for us,” he said.

Jackpot astonishes wife

Walker won the first $5 million top prize in the game.

“Something was just telling me to pick that ticket,” he said.

He immediately called his wife.

“She just kept saying, ‘What, what, what,’” Walker said.

He will use this year’s winnings to pay off his mortgage and didn’t say what he might do with the rest of the money.

The game started in March with five top prizes and 10 $100,000 prizes. Four $5 million prizes and nine $100,000 prizes remain to be won, according to the game page.