William Stanley of Mooresville tried his luck on a single $20 ticket and scored a $100,000 prize.

“It’s a bonus,” he said.

Stanley purchased his winning $4,000,000 Gold Rush ticket from the Walmart on Supercenter Drive Northeast in Kannapolis.

“Once in a while I’ll buy a ticket out of the machine and just grabbed one,” recalled Stanley. “I waited until I left and scratched it and realized it was a winner. I was like, ‘Oh, cool!’”

He claimed his prize Monday at lottery headquarters in Raleigh. After required federal and state tax withholdings, he took home $70,756.

Stanley said he plans to put the money into savings.

The $4,000,000 Gold Rush game launched in August with three top prizes of $4 million and six $100,000 prizes.
One top prize and two $100,000 prizes remain to be won.

Ticket sales from scratch-offs make it possible for the lottery to raise more than $725 million per year for education. For details on how lottery funds have helped all of North Carolina’s 100 counties, click on the “Impact” section of the lottery’s website.