‘I almost fainted.’ North Carolina health care driver wins jackpot prize
A health care worker who delivers medicine to hospitals won a big lottery prize during the coronavirus pandemic, North Carolina officials say.
“I almost fainted,” James Joyce said of checking his jackpot numbers, according to the N.C. Education Lottery.
The lucky moment came after Joyce finished a shift as a delivery driver last month, the lottery said Friday in a news release. He decided to make his usual stop at a Crossroads Exxon, a gas station on West Market Street in Greensboro, officials say.
There, Joyce bought a ticket for the Carolina Cash 5 game, according to the news release.
But it wasn’t until the next morning that he checked the results of the lottery drawing and found out he had won $149,814, officials say.
Now, he’s planning to put some of his money toward golf clubs.
“I got a few small bills I can knock out but other than that, no big purchases,” Joyce told the lottery. “I’m just a happy-go-lucky guy.”
After taxes, Joyce got $105,994, according to officials.
The lottery in its news release didn’t reveal whether he had a role in the COVID-19 response.
In March, the statewide stay-at-home order prompted the lottery to temporarily relax a requirement that players claim big lottery prizes in person. The first phase of Gov. Roy Cooper’s plan to lift coronavirus-related restrictions went into effect Friday.
Officials last week announced claim centers would reopen Monday, with limited capacity due to social distancing practices.
The lottery said anyone with winnings $599 or lower can go to retail stores, and people with tickets up to $99,999 can mail them in, according to a news release. The deadline has been extended for some lottery claims, with tickets set to expire Mar. 10 to Aug. 1 now valid until Nov. 1, officials say.
For those who plan to claim prizes in person, “the lottery recommends that those winners sign the back of their tickets and secure them in a safe place.”
This story was originally published May 11, 2020 at 9:45 AM with the headline "‘I almost fainted.’ North Carolina health care driver wins jackpot prize."
