South Carolina resident scores $5M win in North Carolina

A lucky South Carolina resident started the New Year as a millionaire after winning a multi-million-dollar prize from a scratch-off ticket purchased in North Carolina.

Truck driver scores hefty scratch-off ticket win

Last week, the North Carolina Education Lottery released details regarding the incredibly fortunate winner.

Melchor Aguilar, a truck driver from Inman, South Carolina, recently scored one of the top prizes from the Lottery's popular scratch-off game, 200X The Cash.

While on the job, the truck driver was passing through North Carolina and decided to try his luck with a scratch-off ticket.

The lucky winner stopped by Kangaroo Express on East Swannanoa Avenue in Liberty.

Aguilar bought one $30 200X The Cash ticket. To the man's surprise, he scored one of the game's top prizes for a sweet $5m payout, a press release reveals.

Visiting the Lottery headquarters last week, Aguilar faced a difficult choice: to either collect a smaller size prize instantly or take the entire prize over time through annual installments.

In the first case, the lottery player would instantly take home a lump sum of $3m, while the latter option granted him annual payments of $250,000 per year for the next 20 years.

Not unexpectedly, the truck driver selected the lump cash sum option and after the applicable federal and state taxes, collected $2,152,508.

The lucky winner did not share if he had any plans for the unexpected windfall.

Plenty of mouth-water prizes from 200X The Cash remain in play

Offering prizes between $30 and $5m, 200X The Cash was released by the Lottery on March 5, 2024.

The odds of winning a top prize of $5m are 1 in 2,963,646.

While at the release of the $30 scratch-off ticket, there were a total of five top prizes, now, three remain in play.

A tier-two prize from 200X The Cash offers $100,000.

The odds of winning such a prize are 1 in 1,481,823.

Upon releasing the scratch-off ticket, there were a total of ten prizes of $100,000 and now eight remain up for grabs.

The popular scratch-off ticket also offers $50,000 tier-three prizes.

With the chances of winning $50,000 being 1 in 740,911.5, only 11 such prizes remain in play out of the initial 20 at the release of 200X The Cash.

The overall odds of winning any prize from the $30 scratch-off ticket are 1 in 2.93.

Image credit: North Carolina Education Lottery