Florida hunter bought NC scratch-off lottery tickets and won a million bucks

A Florida hunter on an annual trip to bag deer and visit family in North Carolina stopped for lottery scratch-off tickets and won a million bucks, N.C. Education Lottery officials said in a news release.

“We come up to North Carolina every year to visit family and enjoy deer hunting season,” Walter McLeod of Williston, Florida, told lottery officials after claiming his prize at lottery headquarters in Raleigh on Monday. “We always play the lottery while we’re up here just for fun.”

McLeod, a school maintenance worker, stopped with his son at the Speedway on U.S. 264 Bypass in Belhaven to buy some $10 Holiday Millionaire scratch-off tickets, according to the lottery news release.

Belhaven is in Beaufort County at the coast.

“I gave the tickets to my son to scratch,” McLeod told lottery officials, according to the release. “He started screaming so loud I thought he’d gotten a snake bite at first. But then he told me we won $1 million. I couldn’t believe it.”

McLeod could choose an annuity that has 20 payments of $50,000 a year, or a lump sum of $600,000. He chose the lump sum, lottery officials said. After state and federal tax withholdings, he took home $423,009, according to the news release.

He will spend some of the money on a trip to Disney World with his four grandchildren, lottery officials said.

Holiday Millionaire launched in November 2017 with three top prizes of $1 million. One top prize remains.

McLeod was the second person to claim a $1 million on Monday in the NC lottery.

Nha Thi Hien Duong of Charlotte won $1 million after buying a $10 Hit $5,000 scratch-off ticket at Den’s Mart on The Plaza in Charlotte, lottery officials said in a separate news release.

She also chose the $600,000 lump sum, also taking home $423,009 after taxes.

This story was originally published October 17, 2018 at 8:18 AM with the headline "Florida hunter bought NC scratch-off lottery tickets and won a million bucks."