Fortune cookie numbers led to 1 of 2 million-dollar lottery prizes in Charlotte area
Two players hit Mega Millions lottery jackpots, one with a $2 ticket bought at a Charlotte convenience store and the other using fortune cookie numbers, North Carolina lottery officials said.
Claude Guezodje of Charlotte won $2 million with the same numbers he’s played for nearly five years, according to an N.C. Education Lottery new release Thursday.
“Those numbers were from a Chinese fortune cookie and random numbers I picked for myself,” the highway construction worker told lottery officials. “I just liked those numbers and put them together.”
Guezodje bought the ticket April 21 at BP Mini Mart on Bessemer City Road in Gastonia, near where he and his crew meet before heading to an Interstate 85 construction site at U.S. 321.
Only one other player nationwide won $2 million in the April 21 drawing, according to the lottery.
Guezodje matched all five white balls, but his $1 million win doubled because he added Megaplier to his ticket. A 2X Megaplier was drawn.
After tax withholdings, he netted $1.4 million on Tuesday.
“The first thing I’ll do is pay off my car and try to find a small house – nothing crazy,” Guezodje told lottery officials. “And then, of course, I want to help my family back home.”
Winner at transit center
Somebody else, meanwhile, paid $2 for a Mega Millions lottery ticket at an uptown Charlotte convenience store and won a $1-million prize, lottery officials said this week.
The person bought the ticket at Plaza Sundries, at the Charlotte Transportation Center on East Trade Street but the $1-million prize has yet to be claimed.
In Tuesday’s Mega Millions drawing, the ticket numbers matched the five white balls, 7-13-17-21-45, according to a news release by the N.C. Education Lottery.
Both Guezodje and the buyer of the $1-million winning ticket beat odds of 1 in 12.6 million, according to the lottery website.
No one won Tuesday’s jackpot, which now stands at $231 million, lottery officials said.
Two tickets drawn Tuesday won $10,000 prizes. The tickets were sold at the Circle K on Spring Forest Road in Raleigh and the Food Lion on Falls River Avenue in Raleigh, according to the lottery.
This story was originally published May 7, 2020 at 10:52 AM.