He Went House-Hunting Saturday, Then Won $1M on His Porch Sunday

Key Takeaways

One Ticket, Two Days, and the House They Had Just Seen

Johnson bought the ticket at Super Save on N.C. 27 West in Lillington, Harnett County. “I just go with my first instinct and it was to get that one,” he told lottery officials. He was scratching it at home on Sunday when the top prize came up. “It just so happens that yesterday was my lucky day,” he told the North Carolina Education Lottery on Monday. “Last Saturday we were looking at a house.”

He claimed the prize at lottery headquarters in Raleigh on Monday, where the $1 million came with a choice: $50,000 a year for 20 years, or $600,000 up front. He took the lump sum. He and his family plan to buy the house and a car. (An accounting aside: the net lottery reports is withholding, not final tax. Federal withholding on a lump sum is 24%, but $600,000 arriving in a single year is taxed nearer 30%, so a further bill follows at filing. Ultimately, spread across 20 years, the same $1 million would sit closer to 12%.)

The Triple Red 777 Jackpot launched in July with three $1 million top prizes. Johnson’s was the second to go. The first went to Jose Munoz of Montgomery County, who scratched his ticket inside the store in Candor on July 29 and said he felt emotions all over his body. One $1 million prize is still unclaimed.

North Carolina has been producing winners at pace. Johnson is one of at least three central North Carolina players to claim a $1 million scratch-off prize inside two weeks, alongside Oscar Mendoza of Lee County on Jumbo Bucks and Kerolos Makram of Louisburg on Loteria Multiplier.

Recently, an Italian player threw a $1.15 million slip into the trash after misreading a two-word terminal message, an Ohio resident who hit the big one on the same day, and an Indiana printing error that made a $20 ticket read like $100,000. Raymond Johnson had a much more straightforward story to celebrate.