For Jaleel Frederick of Clinton a $200,000 Triple Play top prize means he can buy his first home and start a new business.

Frederick, a retail merchandiser, stopped at the Express Mart on North Boulevard in Clinton on Tuesday and bought a Minute Maid juice along with two scratch-off tickets.

Once back in the car, he scratched his tickets. “I did the $5 ticket first,” said Frederick. “The winning number was 34 and I scratched off 34. I put it back in my bag because I didn’t believe it was true. I was like, ‘That’s not real!’ I just started yelling.”

Frederick called his mom to share the good news and said she was “really happy, too.”

“I had my cousin with me but I told him I had to go home and play some Gospel music over the loudspeaker,” he recalled.

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

He said his prize money will allow him to purchase his first home. He also plans to buy a truck and “start a T-shirt business.”

Ticket sales from scratch-off games make it possible for the lottery to raise more than $725 million a year for education. For details on how $4.6 million raised by the lottery made a difference in Sampson County in 2019, visit www.nclottery.com and click on the “Impact” section.