Man wins over $300,000 with ‘golden ticket’ bought at gas station
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Union County, NC (WGHP) — Charles Ibach III, of Indian Land, South Carolina, tried his luck with North Carolina’s Cash 5 game and hit the $309,629 jackpot in the July 1 drawing, according to the NC Education Lottery.
Ibach, who worked in synthetic textiles for 47 years, stopped at the Fill Good on Cuthbertson Road in Waxhaw in Union County on June 30 and bought a multi-draw Cash 5 Quick Pick ticket good for five draws.
The next night, Ibach was watching the live drawing on his phone.
“I had written down the numbers on the newspaper, and then I looked over, and the numbers the way they were drawn, and I went, ‘Uhhh,” Ibach said. “I looked at it, and I replayed the video again, so I could verify what I had written down.”
When he realized he had five winning numbers, he went to share the news with his wife.
“I said, ‘We just won the lottery,’” Ibach recalled. “She said, ‘Nah.’ And I said, ‘I’m not kidding!’”
His lucky ticket, which had four plays for each of the five drawings, came in handy more than once.
It produced three wins in five drawings, including the jackpot prize.
“Our oldest daughter made the comment that it was a ‘golden ticket,’” Ibach said.
He claimed his prize Tuesday at lottery headquarters in Raleigh.
After federal and state tax withholdings, he took home $219,070.
Ibach has a few plans for his winnings, including sharing some of the money with his six kids.
As an “avid boater” who teaches public boating safety classes, Ibach also intends to use his prize money to pay off a new boat.
The rest, he said, will be used “to add to the nest egg” for their future.
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