North Carolina man wins $100K from scratch-off ticket after haircut

• A Durham, North Carolina resident who had just gotten a haircut needed change to pay his barber
• Visiting a convenience store, the man decided to buy a $20 scratch-off ticket and was surprised by a hefty $100,000 win
• The lucky man scored the sweet prize from the North Carolina Education Lottery's Ruby Red 7's ticket

After getting a haircut, a North Carolina man was surprised by a life-enhancing six-figure prize.

Earlier this week, the North Carolina Education Lottery confirmed that a Durham resident scored a tier-two prize from its popular game, Ruby Red 7's, for a sweet $100,000 payout.

A fresh haircut and a six-figure lottery prize

The winner decided to stop at Lighthouse Food Mart on Holloway Street in Durham.

This happened right after the lucky man had visited a barber.

As he needed cash to pay for his trim, the Durham man decided to also buy a $20 scratch-off ticket. He picked the Ruby Red 7's.

To his surprise, this $20 ticket brought him a life-enhancing $100,000 tier-two prize.

Speaking to an official with the North Carolina Education Lottery, the man admitted that the day he won the sweet $100,000 started off as a "usual Saturday" with him getting a haircut.

"Something just told me to buy that, so I went for it," the winner recalled about the moment he bought the winning ticket.

After paying the barber, the man went back to his truck and scratched off the ticket.

This is when he realized that the $20 scratch-off game brought him a six-figure prize.

"I was definitely feeling a lot of emotions," the winner said.

While the lucky lottery player admitted that he already has plans about the unexpected windfall, he did not go into details about what he intends to do.

Instead, the Durham man said that the lottery prize will help him "complete some goals."

Considering the applicable state and federal taxes, the winner's bank account increased by nearly $72,000 after he visited the lottery headquarters on Monday to claim his winnings.

Many prizes remain in play from Ruby Red 7's

Released on August 5, 2025, the North Carolina Education Lottery's Ruby Red 7's grants players a chance to win a prize between $20 and $2m.

The odds of winning the game's top prize for a $2m payout are 1 in 1,707,230 and out of three such prizes, two remain in play.

On the other hand, a tier-two prize of $100,000, just like the one recently won, offers odds of 1 in 569,076.67.

Out of nine prizes of $100,000 each, five are up for grabs from the $20 ticket.

Within the lower prize tiers, between $1,000 and $20, thousands of prizes remain in play.

The overall odds of winning any prize from the $20 scratch-off game are 1 in 3.45.

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