In a stroke of incredible luck, a man managed to win a staggering £76,000 in the lottery shortly after purchasing a beach house, allowing him to make a substantial dent in his mortgage payment.
Mark Stephenson, hailing from Kenly, located west of Charlotte in North Carolina, USA, found himself in this fortuitous situation purely by chance. The irony lies in the fact that Mark resorted to buying a scratch-card because his usual lottery games were sold out.
As Mark took charge of the wheel, his wife eagerly scratched off the £15.20 ($20) ticket they had just purchased. To their astonishment, she uncovered a winning combination, granting them a cash prize of £76,307 ($100,000).
Mark shared, “We had just completed the purchase of our beach house the day before and were on our way back when we made a pit stop at a Speedway where we bought the ticket. Unfortunately, the two tickets I usually go for were sold out, so I decided to give this one a shot.”
Overwhelmed with excitement, his wife let out a scream of delight inside the car. To gather their wits, they pulled over at a Bojangles and took a moment to process their unexpected stroke of good fortune.
On 11th July, Mark headed to the North Carolina Education Lottery headquarters to claim his prize of £76,307. Grateful and feeling blessed, he expressed his gratitude to lottery officials, stating, “We feel incredibly fortunate and thankful for this unexpected windfall.”
With his newfound wealth, the lucky winner has plans to allocate the funds towards paying off the mortgage for their beach house and undertaking some much-desired renovations.
Mark’s winning ticket, known as the $2,000,000 Riches scratch-card, was purchased at the Speedway petrol station in Beulaville. Launched just last month, the $2,000,000 Riches game offers four top prizes of £1.5 million ($2 million) each and eight £76,307 ($100,000) prizes.
It’s worth noting that there are still three unclaimed £1.5 million prizes and four unclaimed £76,307 prizes from the North Carolina Education Lottery’s $2,000,000 Riches game.
Interestingly, Mark isn’t the only fortunate individual who has struck it big while trying their luck with a lottery game for the first time. Just last month, Ruth Salvatore, a 73-year-old resident of Grants Pass, Oregon, won the jackpot on the Win for Life draw held on 5th June.
Having played the game for the first time, Ruth will receive an annual payment of £39,698 ($52,000) for the rest of her life, courtesy of the Oregon Lottery. Coincidentally, Ruth and her husband, Ed, also celebrated their 52nd wedding anniversary last month, making the number 52 truly special for the couple.
