North Carolina lottery player mistakes $200K win for a $2K prize

A lottery player from North Carolina decided to try his luck with a scratch-off ticket and was pleasantly surprised by a $2,000 win. Once the man looked closer at the winning ticket, he was shocked to realize the win was actually $200,000.

Winning $200K was "unreal," the lucky lottery player says

On Thursday, the North Carolina Education Lottery announced in a press release that a fortunate Buncombe County man scored one of the top prizes from its popular scratch-off game, Red Hot Slots.

The fortunate winner's name is Randy Suthard, a Candler resident, who purchased his ticket at Hot Spot on Brevard Road in Asheville.

Speaking to Lottery officials, the man admitted that he didn't go to the store for a lottery ticket per se.

However, once Suthard decided to try his luck it turned out that the ticket he wanted to buy was sold out.

The man said that he decided to try his luck with Red Hot Slots instead.

"At first I thought it said $2,000. Then I looked harder and realized, 'That's the big daddy,'" Suthard explained.

Recalling the moment of the big win, the winner said: "It was pretty wild. It was kind of unreal to be honest."

The Candler resident visited the North Carolina Education Lottery headquarters to claim his big in on Thursday.

After the applicable state and federal taxes, Suthard collected a total of $143,501.

When asked if he has any plans about the windfall, the lucky lottery player said he will probably pay some bills and save the rest of the money for his retirement.

One top prize remains in play from Red Hot Slots

It was back on May 7, 2024, when the North Carolina Education Lottery introduced the $5 scratch-off game Red Hot Slots.

The game offers overall odds of winning any prize of 1 in 4.25.

After the recent top prize win, now, only one prize of $200,000 remains in play.

The odds of winning the top prize from Red Hot Slots are 1 in 1,461,660.

Besides the $200,000 top prize, the scratch-off game awards a tier-two prize of $10,000.

With the odds of winning such a prize being 1 in 730,830, there are only four prizes of $10,000 remaining in play.

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