Celebrating a wedding anniversary at the beach led Kenneth Smith of Greensboro to a $100,000 scratch-off prize.

“I’ve always fantasized about winning a big prize in the lottery,” Smith said.

Smith, a 33-year-old real estate worker, bought his lucky $100 Million Mega Cash ticket from the Calabash Food and Fuel on Beach Drive Southwest in Calabash. He said a friend recommended that he buy his ticket from that store.

“We wouldn’t have known about it if it hadn’t been for him,” Smith said. “He was so excited that the store he picked out for us produced a winner for our group.”

Smith said family and friends were with him and his wife celebrating their second wedding anniversary.

“I took everybody in our group to breakfast after I won,” Smith said.

He collected his prize Friday at lottery headquarters and, after required state and federal tax withholdings, took home $71,016.

Smith said he wants to do some home improvements and build a fence for his new puppy, a nine-week old dachshund named Stella.

The $100 Million Mega Cash game debuted in May with four top prizes of $2 million and eight $100,000 prizes. Two $2 million prizes and four $100,000 prizes remain to be claimed.

Ticket sales from scratch-off games make it possible for the lottery to raise more than $2.5 million a day on average for education. For details on how $33.2 million raised by the lottery made a difference in Guilford County in 2021, visit www.nclottery.com and click on the “Impact” section.