Cashier’s mix-up ends in jackpot win for man on his first visit to NC, officials say
A man on his first trip to North Carolina ended up with a $100,000 souvenir.
And it was all thanks to a cashier who made a mistake, the N.C. Education Lottery said Monday in a news release.
Melvin Rose got the jackpot prize after he came from Tennessee to work on a painting and restoration project, according to the news release.
That’s when he decided to stop by a store in Hickory, roughly 50 miles northwest of Charlotte.
Rose went to the Raceway gas station on U.S. 321 and asked for $5 lottery scratch-off tickets, officials say.
But the clerk accidentally gave him $20 tickets, which were for the 100X the Cash game, according to the N.C. Education Lottery.
He paid for the more expensive tickets “because his instinct told him that that they were meant for him,” the lottery’s news release said.
And one of the three tickets he bought was a big winner, the news release said.
“There’s a reason she gave those to me,” Rose said, according to the lottery. “My luck’s here in North Carolina.”
Rose is from Waynesboro, Tennessee, roughly 100 miles southwest of Nashville.
He’s taking home $70,756 after taxes, and he plans to use the money to treat his friends, the lottery says.
Rose says he also hopes to pay bills and go on a Caribbean cruise.
This story was originally published December 10, 2019 at 3:17 PM with the headline "Cashier’s mix-up ends in jackpot win for man on his first visit to NC, officials say."
