Lottery win could put North Carolina salon back in business after COVID-19 shutdown
A struggling business is getting a second chance, thanks to a big North Carolina lottery prize.
The COVID-19 pandemic forced Jeffrey Yi to close his hair salon, resulting in a major financial blow, the N.C. Education Lottery said Tuesday in a news release.
Six months later, Yi caught a break when his lottery ticket matched enough numbers to win a $1.2 million jackpot prize, the release said.
“My business was shut down because of coronavirus and I lost a lot of money,” Yi told the lottery. “I couldn’t pay the rent, or the employees. This is a chance to reopen.”
Yi’s good luck started when he went to a Speedway in Fayetteville. The convenience store is on Yadkin Road and about 5 miles southeast of Fort Bragg, McClatchy News previously reported.
That’s where Yi decided to follow a friend’s suggestion and bought a ticket for the Carolina Cash 5 game, officials say. He picked his own numbers for the ticket, which beat nearly 1-in-a-million odds to win the big prize in Thursday’s drawing.
The $1,247,944 win was the seventh-largest prize ever in the Cash 5 game, and Yi got to take home $882,923 after taxes, according to officials.
“I can try and make my business open again,” Yi told the lottery. “I’m so happy.”
The windfall comes after Gov. Roy Cooper in late March ordered hair salons and barber shops to close to help stop the spread of the coronavirus. About two months later, the businesses were allowed to reopen, with restrictions.
Yi came forward after officials on Friday announced a ticket worth $1.2 million was sold in Fayetteville. Winners have roughly six months to claim their prize money.
