Dewey Croom of Marion tried his luck on a Carolina Keno ticket and won a $100,000 prize.

Croom, a retired truck driver, purchased his winning ticket on Sunday from the Sugar Hill Food Mart on Sugar Hill Road in Marion.

“I went in to check my ticket the next day,” he recalled. “I didn’t know until Monday, that I had won on the Sunday draw!”

Croom claimed his prize Wednesday at lottery headquarters in Raleigh and took home $70,771 after required federal and state tax withholdings.

With the prize money, he plans to pay off his “pickup truck, put the rest of it in the bank and maybe take a vacation.”

Carolina Keno lets you choose how many numbers, or spots, you play and your choice determines your odds and the prize you play for.

Croom’s big win came when he paid $10 for 10 drawings, selecting the 10-spot game. In one of the drawings, he matched all 10 spots. He became the third person to win a $100,000 prize playing Keno since the game started in 2017. The odds of winning $100,000 in a 10-spot game are 1 in 8.9 million.

Croom says he’ll combine his newest big check with his previous Cash 5 jackpot winnings. Back in the December 16, 2014 drawing, he won the $121,790 Cash 5 jackpot.

Ticket sales from Carolina Keno make it possible for the lottery to raise more than $725 million per year for education.

McDowell County received $15 million in money raised by the lottery to help build the new Old Fort Elementary School.

For details on how other money raised by the lottery made a difference in McDowell County in 2020, visit www.nclottery.com and click on the “Impact” section.