North Carolina Man Recieves Million Dollar Lottery Stocking Stuffer

How does the saying go?  You can't win if you don't play?  I've got to give it up to Bobby Wilder of Raleigh who did something I don't know if I'm willing to do.  The North Carolina Education Lottery unveiled a new scratch-off game last week:  the "$10 Million Spectacular."  Now, I'm not against scratch off lottery games-far from it.  However, this one comes with a healthy price tag.  This ticket is $50.  I've only bought $20 tickets a couple of times, and had buyer's remorse even before scratching a thing.  So, the wanna-be gambler in me has mad respect for Wilder taking the half c-note leap.

And boy did it pay off.  Last Thursday, Bobby bought his ticket from a convenience store on Garner Rd. in Raleigh.  Seconds later he discovered he'd paid $50 for a Christmas miracle of $1 million.  I think the biggest issue I would have would be struggling to stay conscious.  That would be just my luck.  I'd scratch off $1 million only to pass out and have someone take my ticket and walk out the door.  Anyway, what did Bobby do?  According to Fox 8, he called the one person who would be unconditionally happy for him.  “I called my mom crying and told her, ‘I just won a million dollars.”

Now an interesting part of this story is that the windfall of this game is so large that when Bobby Wilder arrived at the lottery office, he had a decision to make.  He could take the $600,000 in one lump sum (damn, taxes eat a lot, right?!), or he could take an annuity payment of $50,000 for the next 20 years.  He made the right decision, IMHO.  None of us is promised tomorrow.  Take all you can today.

Bobby Wilder took the $600,000 check for winning the new $10 Million Spectacular from The North Carolina Education Lottery.  Merry Christmas indeed.

There are some states that are luckier than others. There is no doubt about it. North Carolina made the list of 15 lucky states in the United States, according to OLBG. Everyone has fantasized about winning the lottery, whether it's the Mega Millions or the Powerball. Whether you're planning a lavish vacation, buying a house, treating a loved one, giving to charity, or all of the above, when we buy a ticket we always have a little bit of hope and our imaginations go wild when we hear about the unclaimed winning ticket...

When it comes to winning big on the lottery, which states are the luckiest? To determine where in America has the greatest likelihood of winning the big bucks, OLBG analyzed all lottery winners in the U.S. with a jackpot of $300 million or more. You can see the top 15 states below.

California was ranked 12th luckiest state despite having the highest number of big lottery winners, primarily because the state has such a large population that there are very few lottery winners, and the average winning ticket for a California winner is only $190.5 million.

North Carolina has won a whopping $1.1 billion between both lottery winners, making its average winning ticket $550 million, the highest in the country. As a result of its higher population, North Carolina didn't quite capture the title by itself, with a lower percentage of its population winning than New Hampshire.

In terms of lottery jackpot winners, New Hampshire and North Carolina share the gold for the luckiest states. Residents in New Hampshire have won a total of $693.7 million, which is an average of $346.85 million per winning ticket. As one of the states with the highest percentage of people who have won over $300 million, New Hampshire has the third smallest population.