‘Goodbye, apartment!’ Charlotte couple says after $1 ticket hits a lottery jackpot
A Charlotte couple is saying “so long” to their longtime apartment after a lottery jackpot win, North Carolina lottery officials said Wednesday.
Jerry and Lorraine Tobin bought their winning $1 Quick Pick ticket at the Kangaroo Express on Wilkinson Boulevard for Monday’s drawing, according to a lottery news release.
The couple were shocked when Lorraine Tobin checked their Cash 5 numbers at 4 a.m. Tuesday and discovered their $1 million win, officials said.
They beat odds of 1 in 962,598, according to the lottery.
“I didn’t know what to do,” Lorraine Tobin told officials when the couple claimed their prize at lottery headquarters in Raleigh later Tuesday.
The Tobins split the jackpot amount, with each netting $370,563 after taxes, according to the lottery.
“Excited, happy, thankful,” she told lottery officials.
“We’re just blessed,” Jerry Tobin said. “It’s unbelievable.”
Their first planned purchase: A house.
“We need one,” Lorraine Tobin said. “We’ve been living in an apartment for 17 years.”
The Tobins also will buy a new car, pay off bills and donate to their church, lottery officials said.
Wednesday’s jackpot in the nightly Carolina Cash 5 drawing is $100,000, according to the lottery.