Confident lottery player shocked when words to store clerk come true in North Carolina

A North Carolina lottery player was left stunned after his words to a store clerk came true, he told state lottery officials.

James Brown, of Lenoir, recently stopped into a local Shop and Save and bought a $10 Double Diamond Cashword ticket, lottery officials said in a March 15 news release. As he was checking out, he told the clerk, “One of these days I’m going to win that big prize,” he said. “Two weeks later I did.”

But after scratching off his ticket, not even Brown could believe what he was seeing: He had won a $500,000 top prize.

“I just thought, ‘I can’t believe I won that much money,’” he told lottery officials. He immediately called his wife and she couldn’t believe it either.

“I told her I won and she said, ‘No you didn’t,’” Brown said.

It’s a blessing that “came at the right time,” he added.

Brown says he’ll be putting the money toward renovations to his house.

He collected his winnings from the N.C. Education Lottery headquarters, which totaled $357,503 after taxes, according to officials.

Lenoir is a roughly 70-mile drive northwest of Charlotte.

This story was originally published March 17, 2024 at 1:41 PM with the headline "Confident lottery player shocked when words to store clerk come true in North Carolina."