Military man ‘might do a little dance’ after winning big North Carolina lottery prize
A military man wanted to buy lottery tickets every time he got gas — and his decision paid off big time in North Carolina.
Jonathan Cook found out he won a $750,000 top prize while stopping to fill his tank over the weekend, the N.C. Education Lottery said in a news release.
“When I look at my bank account and I see those numbers for the first time, I might do a little dance,” he said in the release.
Officials say Cook’s good fortune started when he went to Circle K on Chicken Food Road in Hope Mills. The convenience store is in Cumberland County and roughly 10 miles southwest of downtown Fayetteville.
That’s where Cook decided to try his luck on the Jumbo Bucks game, officials say.
“I’m getting ready to move to Hawaii and I said that I was gonna buy scratch-off tickets every time I get gas because I never really buy them,” Cook said in the N.C. Education Lottery news release.
When Cook checked the lucky ticket in his car, he didn’t have any matching numbers. But he hadn’t finished scratching yet, the release said.
“I saw the little bankroll symbol, and then I scratched the winnings last,” he told the lottery. “And I said, ‘Woah, it looks like I won $750,000.’ ”
After taxes, Cook gets $530,628, according to the lottery.
Cook lives in Live Oak, Florida, roughly 85 miles west of Jacksonville, officials say. He previously worked as an “allergy and immunology instructor for the military” and told the lottery the win has sparked a new career path.
“I’ll retire in three years and then become an investor,” Cook said, according to a Twitter post from the lottery. “This pretty much kind of jump started it.”
