Ronald McCorrister of Sylva still can’t believe that an afternoon of helping his neighbor work on his car turned into the day he won $100,000 playing the lottery.

“We had to go get gas,” recalled McCorrister. “He took me to a gas station that I don’t usually go to. I went in and bought a couple of tickets.”

He says he scratched those tickets off on the drive home from the Hot Spot on East Main Street in Sylva.

“I looked down and saw $100,000,” he said. “I just kept looking to make sure I was really seeing what I was looking at. I showed my buddy and he gave me like 15 high-fives on that drive home.”

McCorrister, who works in landscaping and construction, claimed his prize Friday at lottery headquarters in Raleigh. After required federal and state tax withholdings, he took home $70,759.

He says he will buy himself a new car with his big win. He’s looking to trade in his 2014 Acura ILX to a newer, sportier Subaru WRX. “And I don’t know what else I’m gonna do with the rest of it,” he said.

The $30 Millionaire Maker game launched in March with 30 top prizes of $1 million and 10 $100,000 prizes. Seventeen $1 million and seven $100,000 prizes remain to be won.

“I’m feeling shocked,” he reiterated. “It’s just crazy. My wife and I are definitely going somewhere really nice to eat.”

Ticket sales from scratch-off games like Millionaire Maker make it possible for the lottery to raise more than $725 million per year for education. For details on how $1.4 million raised by the lottery made a difference in Jackson County in 2020, visit www.nclottery.com and click on the “Impact” section.