North Carolina man wins $100,000 from a last-minute scratch-off ticket
A North Carolina man has won $100,000 from a scratch-off lottery ticket he bought on a whim. His purchase came after stopping for a haircut, where he needed change to pay the barber. The ticket was part of the state's Ruby Red 7's game, launched last August.
The winner's ticket was a $20 Ruby Red 7's scratch-off, one of the North Carolina Education Lottery's newer games. After taxes, his tier-two prize came to nearly $72,000. The game offers rewards from $20 up to $2 million, with top-prize odds set at 1 in 1,707,230.
Despite multiple winners, two $2 million prizes from Ruby Red 7's remain unclaimed as of March 11, 2026. Even the smaller $100,000 prizes, like the one just won, had gone uncollected until now.
The man's spontaneous decision to buy a ticket led to a significant payout. His win marks one of the first claimed $100,000 prizes in the Ruby Red 7's game. Meanwhile, the lottery's largest rewards still await winners.
