May 7 (UPI) — A man who won a $5 million jackpot from the North Carolina Education Lottery said he owes his windfall to a store clerk who handed him the wrong ticket.
Jonathan Bate, a New York resident working as a construction superintendent in North Carolina, told North Carolina Education Lottery officials he stopped after work at the Family Fare store in Burlington to buy a scratch-off lottery ticket.
“The funny part about the ticket is, I got the wrong ticket,” Bate said. “I asked for one and I got another and I just said, ‘Alright.'”
The ticket, a $20 $5,000,000 Fortune game, earned him a $5 million top prize.
“I got to the fifth number and it was a winner and I was like, ‘Wow, no way!'” he said. “It didn’t sink in at first. I still can’t believe I won.”
Bate said he is making plans for his winnings.
“A new truck and my granddaughter is going to go to college,” he said.