NC man ‘messed up’ trying to buy a lottery ticket. He tried again and hit a jackpot.
A North Carolina man is glad he “messed up” trying to buy a $1 Cash 5 scratch-off ticket in hopes of winning a $169,000 jackpot on Sunday, North Carolina lottery officials said Wednesday.
He tried again the next day, successfully completed the purchase and scored a $218,613 jackpot when the numbers he chose at random matched all five winning numbers, 9, 15, 17, 28 and 29, according to the lottery.
“I didn’t complete the purchase until the next day,” Mooresville resident David Lewandowski said when he claimed his prize at lottery headquarters in Raleigh on Wednesday. “If I had paid attention and did it right the first time, I wouldn’t have won.”
Lewandowski didn’t reveal how he messed up when he tried to buy a ticket the first time. He couldn’t be reached by The Charlotte Observer on Wednesday.
He beat odds of 1 in 962,598, according to the Cash 5 page on NCLottery.com.
After taxes, he took home $155,762, officials said.
Lewandowski, the owner of a window tinting business, said he plans to put a down payment on a condo in Puerto Rico with his big win, lottery officials said.
Cash 5 and five other games in the state let players buy their tickets at a lottery retailer and on the lottery website and app, including the new Pick 3 and Pick 4 games.
Cash 5 tickets are $1 and drawings are held every night. The odds of winning a Cash 5 jackpot are Wednesday’s jackpot is $110,000.
This story was originally published February 23, 2023 at 9:08 AM with the headline "NC man ‘messed up’ trying to buy a lottery ticket. He tried again and hit a jackpot.."