New dad wins top NC lottery game prize after spotting a ticket touting ‘Holiday Cash’
A new father won a top lottery game prize after spotting a scratch-off ticket that touted “Holiday Cash” and deciding to buy one, N.C. lottery officials said.
“I saw a zero, then I saw another zero, then another zero,” Ladaryenne Smith of Franklinton said after claiming the $150,000 prize at lottery headquarters in Raleigh on Friday, according to a lottery news release. “It was just crazy.”
Smith bought the $5 Holiday Cash 50X ticket at Dabney Pit Stop in Henderson on Christmas Eve.
He beat odds of 1 in 4.18 million, according to the Holiday Cash 50X page on the lottery website.
Smith scratched the ticket in his car and could barely believe his big win.
“I probably looked at it like 600 times,” he said.
He’d never won a big lottery prize and didn’t know how to react, he told lottery officials. “I couldn’t even sleep after that,” Smith said with a laugh.
After taxes, Smith took home $107,251, officials said.
“This comes at a really good time for me,” Smith said. “We just had a kid.”
He said he will put the money in a bank and invest his winnings.
The game debuted in November with four top prizes, one of which is still to be claimed, according to the Holiday Cash 50X game page.
This story was originally published December 28, 2024 at 3:25 PM.