Matthew Shepherd of Burnsville sat at home bored on Wednesday afternoon so he tried a $5 digital instant and won a $952,821 jackpot.
“I was just killing time out of boredom,” he recalled. “When it stopped at the jackpot I was like, ‘There’s no way.’”
Shepherd, 35, won the top level “Grand Fortune” jackpot in the Monopoly game. The digital instant game features a progressive jackpot that can be won at any time. The odds of that win were 1 in 10 million.
“I was ecstatic,” Shepherd said. “I would’ve been happy to just double my money.”
He claimed his prize Monday at lottery headquarters and, after required federal and state tax withholdings, took home $683,651.
Shepherd plans to use his winnings to invest and possibly buy a new truck.
After his big win, the jackpot reset at $150,000 and has climbed over $431,000 as of Monday afternoon.
Monopoly is a multi-state digital instant game. That means the progressive jackpots will grow higher, faster and winners could come from other states as well.
Digital instant games are played exclusively online on the lottery’s website or on the NC Lottery Official Mobile App. Fifty-nine different games are available to play online now.
Yancey County received $30 million in state grants funded by the lottery to help with school construction needs. For details on other ways money raised by the lottery made a difference in Yancey County last year, visit www.nclottery.com and click on the “Impact” section.
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