Low on gas, NC man goes into store and picks out $10 million winning lottery ticket
A Lake Norman man is $10 million richer after the low-fuel light came on in his Silverado truck and he decided to fill up with gas, N.C. lottery officials said Wednesday.
Allen Boger planned to stop at a different store to play a different lottery game Saturday morning, according to a lottery news release.
But the gas station where he stopped, the Lunar Mart on N.C. 16 in the eastern Lincoln County community of Denver, was closer to his home when the light came on, officials said. And the station was out of tickets in his favorite $20 scratch-off game, Boger later told lottery officials.
So for the first time, Boger plunked $30 down for a $10,000,000 Colossal Cash ticket, and became the fourth person to hit a $10 million jackpot in the game, officials said.
“It took a couple of twists of fate for this to happen,” Boger told officials when he claimed his prize at lottery headquarters in Raleigh on Monday.
Boger, a car salesman, beat odds of 1 in 2.83 million, according to the lottery website.
“I’ve been lucky my whole life,” Boger told lottery officials. “I’m lucky to win it.”
He had the choice of an annual $500,000 annuity for 20 years or a $6 million lump sum. He chose the lump sum, netting $4.2 million after taxes, according to the lottery.
Boger plans pay off his bills and retire, living off his savings and investments, officials said..
Charlotte, Lake Norman big lottery wins
Boger was just the latest in a streak of big lottery winners in the Charlotte-Lake Norman area.
On Friday, somebody in Mecklenburg County paid $2 for a ticket that hit a Mega Millions jackpot in Friday’s national drawing, N.C. lottery officials said Saturday.
The mystery winner bought the ticket through Online Play on the lottery website, The Charlotte Observer previously reported.
On Feb. 2, lottery officials announced that Cheryl Ratliff of Wingate called her family in tears after scratching off a lottery ticket at work that hit a $4 million jackpot.
Ratliff won the last of three top $10,000 Loaded prizes, thereby ending the popular game that launched in October 2019, officials said.
In January, Christopher Martin of Newton became what was then the sixth big winner of a lottery prize with a ticket bought at a Lake Norman store.
Newton bought his winning $2 million ticket in the $20 “100X the Cash” ticket at Lake Norman Grocery on River Highway (N.C. 150 West), according to the lottery.