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The North Carolina Education Lottery has reported that a Wayne County man said a dream of buying a home now can become a reality after he won a $200,000 prize on a $5 scratch-off ticket he purchased.

“I’ve been planning to buy a home and now we have an opportunity to actually do it,” said Jose Ponce Rodriguez, of Dudley.

Rodriguez, a 27-year-old farmer, bought his lucky Cash Payout ticket from Mount Olive Mobile & Tobacco on North Breazeale Avenue in Mount Olive.

“When I saw the prize I just stood for a while looking at it,” Rodriguez said. “I kept saying to myself ‘Is this real?’”

Rodriguez said he wanted to tell his wife the good news as soon as he could. “I showed her the ticket when I got home and she just started laughing,” Rodriguez said. “She couldn’t believe it was really true.”

Rodriguez arrived at lottery headquarters on Friday, June 3, 2022 to collect his prize. After required state and federal tax withholdings, he took home $142,021.

He said in addition to buying a house, he would like to help out some family members.

Cash Payout debuted in May with five $200,000 prizes and three $200,000 prizes remain to be claimed, according to NCEL.

For details on how money raised by the lottery has made an impact, visit www.nclottery.com and click on the “Impact” section.

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