While out on a walk Wednesday morning, Don Wayne Hanks of Fayetteville decided to try his luck on some Carolina Panthers scratch-offs and won a $200,000 top prize.

“I just felt lucky, that’s all,” said Hanks. “I just believe.”

Hanks, a retired construction worker, purchased his winning $5 ticket from the Sunoco Mini Mart on Cedar Creek Road in Fayetteville.

“I hit $5 and I said, ‘What the heck, let’s buy one more,” he recalled. “And that’s how I hit it. I’ll get on a roll with something but it’s hard to explain, it’s just a gut feeling.”

After buying the ticket, he stepped outside to scratch it off. “It absolutely took my breath away,” said Hanks. “I know my eyes were bugging out of my head like, ‘Wow, finally!’”

He claimed his prize Wednesday at lottery headquarters in Raleigh. After required federal and state tax withholdings, he took home $141,501.

“I’m retired now so this is really gonna help me out a lot,” said Hanks of his prize money. “I need to buy a new vehicle. I can’t get parts for my old truck, so I’m gonna upgrade.”

Carolina Panthers fans can also enter the final second-chance drawing in the game. The drawing will award one grand prize that includes season tickets for home games in the 2021 season and membership in the Panthers’ Fifty 3 Club.

Ticket sales from scratch-offs it possible for the lottery to raise more than $725 million per year for education. For details on how $21.8 million raised by the lottery made a difference in Cumberland County in 2019, visit www.nclottery.com and click on the “Impact” section.