For Eric Schwarz of Hope Mills, a trip to get tomatoes for dinner turned into a $100,000 lottery win.
“He wanted me to make Caprese bread,” his wife Kerry said. “I was almost able to make it with the tomatoes I had, but he decided to get some more.”
While he was out, Eric stopped by the Short Stop on South Main Street in Hope Mills and got a $4,000,000 Platinum Payout scratch-off ticket.
“I like to get a scratch-off ticket once a week,” Eric said.
Eric waited until after dinner to tell his wife that the $20 ticket was a big winner.
“He said he needed to talk to me outside without the kids,” Kerry said. “Of course I thought something was wrong until he handed me the ticket. Then I started jumping up and down.”
Eric claimed his prize Wednesday at lottery headquarters in Raleigh. After required state and federal tax withholdings, he took home $69,507. He plans to use some of the money to take his wife on vacation.
$4,000,000 Platinum Payout launched in September 2016 with three top prizes of $4 million, 5 prizes of $1 million, and 12 prizes of $100,000. Two $4 million prizes, three $1 million prizes, and seven $100,000 prizes remain.
Ticket sales from games like $4,000,000 Platinum Payout made it possible for the lottery to raise more than $634 million for the state last year. For details on how lottery funds have made a difference in Cumberland County, click on the “For Education” section of the lottery’s website.