Worker ‘pressed for time’ on lunch break scores $1 million North Carolina lotto ticket
A North Carolina man played the lottery on his lunch break — and came back to work with a ticket worth $1 million.
Travis Archible was “pressed for time” when he decided to try his luck on the Millionaire Maker game, the N.C. Education Lottery said Tuesday in a news release.
“I went to get something to eat and I stopped but they didn’t have that particular ticket in the machine,” Archible told officials. “So I thought, ‘I’ll just zip into that little store down the road on the way back to work.’”
Archible ended up going to Variety Pic-Up in Wendell, where officials said he spent $30 on the winning scratch-off ticket.
“Got back to work and scratched it and saw the prize,” Archible said in the news release. “I was so excited.”
It turns out, Archible was only the second person to win the top prize in the Millionaire Maker game.
The first was Willard Weber, who scored his lucky ticket months after splitting another jackpot with a coworker, McClatchy News reported.
Archible decided to take his prize money as an “annuity of $50,000 a year over 20 years.” His first payment was $35,384 after taxes, according to the N.C. Education Lottery.
Archible, a forklift operator who lives in the Johnston County town of Smithfield, hopes the prize money allows him to invest, the lottery said in its news release.
“After I scratched it, it was awesome,” Archible told officials. “I’m going to get that business running to where I can eventually stop working for somebody else and work for myself.”
BEHIND THE STORY
MOREWhen gambling is more than a game
Gambling is designed to be a source of entertainment.
If you or a loved one shows signs of gambling addiction, you can seek help by calling the national gambling hotline at 1-800-522-4700 or visiting the National Council on Problem Gambling website.
This story was originally published March 16, 2021 at 10:50 AM.
