‘Learn to count, bozo.’ North Carolina lottery winner gets some help from a friend
A North Carolina man asked his friend to pick five lottery numbers — but almost came short of a jackpot win.
“He gives me four so I texted him back and said, ‘Learn to count, bozo, I need one more,” Timothy Lingo told the N.C. Education Lottery. “And he gave me a number and that was it.”
It turns out, the ticket Lingo bought with his friend’s picks scored half of a $390,814 jackpot prize, lottery officials said Tuesday in a news release.
Now, Lingo says he wants to pay it forward. He told the lottery he plans to spend some of his winnings on a new car for the friend who gave him the lucky picks.
“Because if it wasn’t for his numbers, I’d still have zero,” Lingo, a longtime commercial exterminator, said in the news release.
Lingo’s good fortune started at a Sheetz in Hillsborough, roughly 10 miles northwest of downtown Durham.
That’s where he decided to try his luck on a ticket for the Carolina Cash 5 drawing game, officials say. When Lingo checked how his friend’s numbers fared, he got a big surprise.
“I looked and said, ‘Oh my god,’” Lingo told officials. “So, I went and got my lottery ticket and it was his numbers. I just couldn’t believe it.”
Lingo, who lives in Orange County, splits the prize with Aaron Garcia of Hoke County. Each man got to keep about $138,000 after taxes, according to officials.
In addition to helping his friend with a car purchase, Lingo says he hopes to put his prize money toward a youth camp, savings and his house.
