A North Carolina man won nearly $200,000 on a lottery ticket he forgot he bought — and is now planning to use the money to switch careers.
Gregory Warren, a mechanic in Franklinville, picked up a Cash 5 lottery ticket for the September 29 drawing while filling gas one day after work.
“I don’t buy lottery tickets very often,” Warren told lottery officials. “It just so happens I picked a good day to buy one!”
He didn’t check the ticket until Monday, October 4. That’s when Warren realized he won half of a $391,870 jackpot.
“I forgot about it,” Warren said on Tuesday while collecting his prize at North Carolina Education Lottery headquarters in Raleigh. “I’m still kind of shocked. I didn’t get a whole lot of sleep last night. Too much excitement!”
After federal and state tax withholdings, he walked away with a cool $138,624.
“I think I’m going into business for myself mowing yards,” Warren said. “I’ve got a 14-year-old son and I wanna get a business started so that he’ll have something to do when he graduates from high school.”
The other half of the jackpot went to a woman in New Bern.
The odds of Warren winning a Cash 5 jackpot? Lottery officials said it’s 1 in 962,598.
