‘Instinct’ told North Carolina lottery player to go buy scratch-off — and it paid off

Larry Dunn was on his way home from breakfast when intuition told him to make a pit stop for a lottery ticket, he told North Carolina officials.

He stopped at a convenience store Sept. 29 to buy a ticket and took it back to his car to scratch it off, North Carolina Education Lottery officials said in an Oct. 3 news release.

That’s when he learned he had won $100,000.

“I guess it was just instinct that told me to stop,” Dunn told officials.

The Kings Mountain man won one of 16 prizes worth $100,000 on a $30 Black Titanium ticket, North Carolina officials said. The game debuted at the end of June and also came with six $4 million top prizes. Four top prizes and 11 second-tier prizes remain, in addition to other smaller wins.

“It shocked me, it really did,” Dunn told lottery officials. “Then I went home and told my wife that I won. She was very excited.”

Dunn went to lottery headquarters Oct. 2 to collect his winnings, which he plans to use to take care of his family, he said.

Kings Mountain is about 30 miles west of Charlotte.