Carolina Panthers fan wins lottery on way to doctor, causing a blood pressure spike
A Carolina Panthers fan scored a big Panthers scratch-off ticket lottery win on his way to a physical at his doctor’s office, and the nurse said it may have caused his blood pressure to rise, North Carolina lottery officials said Saturday.
“When I got to the doctor, I felt like I was having a heart attack,” Anthony Griffin Jr. of Stanly County said after claiming his $200,000 prize at lottery headquarters in Raleigh on Friday, according to a lottery news release.
“No wonder your BP is high,” Griffin said his doctor’s nurse told him.
Griffin, a grocery store stocker, won the last $200,000 prize in the game.
He beat odds of 1 in 4.04 million, according to the lottery website.
After taxes, he took home $141,501, officials said.
Griffin bought the winning $5 ticket at Variety Pickup on North Main Street in Oakboro.
He said his physical ended up fine, but he told lottery officials that he was “still in a state of shock.”
Griffin said he’ll “take care of my family” with the proceeds.
Players have until March 31 to enter Carolina Panthers scratch-offs into the third and final 2020 Carolina Panthers Second-Chance Drawing on April 7.
The grand prize in the drawing: 2021 season tickets and membership in the NFL team’s Fifty 1 Club.
This story was originally published February 20, 2021 at 2:46 PM.