Lottery player’s strategy pays off in big way in NC. He saw one zero after another

A lottery player’s strategy led him to a massive win in North Carolina, officials said.

Thomas Shadley, of Fayetteville, bought a $20 100X The Cash ticket and waited until nighttime to check it, as he always does, according to a Jan. 24 news release by the North Carolina Lottery.

“I only play on Wednesdays and Saturdays,” he told lottery officials. “And I always wait until 11 p.m. to scratch my tickets. That’s just what I do.”

That’s when he saw the prize that led him to wake up his sleeping wife, officials said.

“I saw one zero, then another zero and then another,” he said.

Due to the excitement of it all, his wife said she couldn’t go back to sleep, the lottery said.

He beat odds of 1 in 1,027,020 to win the scratch-off game’s second-tier prize.

After claiming his prize at headquarters on Jan. 23, he took home $71,756 after required federal and state tax withholdings, officials said.

He plans to use his winnings to pay bills and take a trip to New Orleans with his wife for their 36th wedding anniversary, officials said.

Fayetteville is about a 65-mile drive southwest of Raleigh.