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A lucky player in North Carolina is celebrating hitting "the big one" after scoring a massive $8 million prize on a new lottery game.
Everett Harris, of Durham, picked up a ticket this week for the new $8 Million Money Maker game, which launched in December 2024, from Tommy's Mini Mart on South Miami Boulevard after having a recent streak of lucky ticket, according to a release from the NC Education Lottery.
"I was just on a roll," he said. "Every ticket seemed to be a winner."
His latest purchase was his biggest yet, winning the first $8 million top prize in the game. Four more top prizes remain to be claimed as do nine $100,000 prizes.
"I really didn't believe what I was seeing," he said. "I hit the big one."
Harris arrived at lottery headquarters on Tuesday (January 14) where he had the choice to receive his win as either an annuity of $400,000 per year over the course of 20 years or as a one time, lump sum payment of $4.8 million. In the end, he chose the latter and took home an impressive total of $3,444,014 after all required state and federal tax withholdings.
According to lottery officials, he plans to use his winnings to do work on his house, pay some bills and purchase a new car. As for now, he is simply reveling in his win.
"It's all luck and it was my lucky day yesterday," he said.