Man becomes multi-millionaire on his first try buying North Carolina lottery ticket

A North Carolina man is living the dream countless lottery players have imagined after winning a life-changing jackpot.

The game involved is 200X The Cash and Jarett Allen of Burnsville said he was inspired to spend the $30 based on his father’s enthusiasm for the game.

“My dad chose the ticket for me,” Allen said in Jan. 10 N.C. Education Lottery news release.

“It was the first lottery ticket I’ve ever bought.”

The jackpot in 200X The Cash is $5 million, and Allen beat odds of 1 in 2,917,430 to win it. He bought the ticket from Riverside General Store in Burnsville, about a 130-mile drive northwest from Charlotte.

“I didn’t think it was real,” Allen said in the release. “I thought I wasn’t looking at it right.”

The prize came with a tough choice: Take the money as a lump sum or get it “as an annuity of $250,000 over 20 years.”

“He chose the lump sum of $3 million and, after required state and federal tax with holdings, took home $2,152,508,” the lottery officials reported.

Details of how his dad reacted were not revealed, but Allen said he intends to show his gratitude by using some of the money “to help out his parents.”

The rest will be invested, he said.

This story was originally published January 13, 2025 at 7:45 AM with the headline "Man becomes multi-millionaire on his first try buying North Carolina lottery ticket."