He held a $5 scratch-off through Panthers’ pain. It paid off big.
At least one positive came at the end of the Carolina Panthers’ loss to San Francisco on Sunday.
Even David Tepper’s grief and Matt Rhule’s pending doom couldn’t diminish 62-year-old Charlotte resident Claude Walkup’s joy. As the Panthers left the field, Walkup pulled out a $5 scratch-off lottery ticket he’d bought earlier in the day at a gas station off Wilkinson Boulevard.
The team lost to the San Francisco 49ers, but its devoted fan won big.
“I’m still in awe,” Walkup said when he showed up to claim a $200,000 “The Price Is Right” jackpot at lottery headquarters in Raleigh on Wednesday, according to a lottery news release.
He beat odds of 1 in 4.18 million, according to “The Price Is Right” game page on NCLottery.com.
Walkup bought the ticket at the Murphy USA gas station on Ashley Road in west Charlotte, officials said.
“I’m still having problems processing it,” he told lottery officials. “Nothing like this has ever happened to me before.”
After taxes, he took home $142,021, according to the lottery.
Walkup couldn’t be reached by phone by The Charlotte Observer on Thursday.
He told lottery officials that he plans to buy a new Cadillac, a model he’s “always loved.”
Three top $200,000 prizes remain to be claimed in the game, which launched on Oct. 4. And five of eight $10,000 prizes remain, according to “The Price Is Right” page.
This story was originally published October 13, 2022 at 1:33 PM with the headline "He held a $5 scratch-off through Panthers’ pain. It paid off big.."