North Carolina Man Has ‘Jaw Dropping’ Lottery Win On Lunch Break

It's because of guys like Nickolas Neal that any time I get a random thought to go ahead and buy a lottery ticket, I do.  How many times have you heard a story like this?  A man is on his lunch break from work.  He stops by a convenience store and says, "Aw, what the heck.  I'll pick me up a lottery ticket."  Next thing you know, he checks the ticket and discovers he's $100,000 richer than the moment before he purchased the ticket.

Nickolas told North Carolina Education Lottery officials, "When I checked the ticket, my jaw dropped.  I got my wife to check the ticket, and her jaw dropped as well.”

Well, Mrs. Neal's jaw will continue to drop when she gets the news that Nickolas plans to take her on a trip to the Carribean.  The couple's tenth anniversary is in December, and they are now planning a trip to St. Lucia for the honeymoon they've never had.

Good for them.

Neal bought his winning $1 Quick Pick ticket (Cash 5) for the Aug. 8 drawing from the 7-Eleven on West Trade Street in Charlotte.  Can you just imagine what it must have been like to go back to work?  I would have been so paranoid about where that ticket was the entire time.  I would have had to go home to just stare at it-making sure it did not get lost or fall into the wrong hands.

After Uncles Sam and the state of North Carolina took their required taste of his windfall, Nickolas Neal and his wife took home $71,252.  That is more than enough for a stellar, better-late-than-never, tropical honeymoon/vacation.

There are some states that are luckier than others. There is no doubt about it. North Carolina made the list of 15 lucky states in the United States, according to OLBG. Everyone has fantasized about winning the lottery, whether it's the Mega Millions or the Powerball. Whether you're planning a lavish vacation, buying a house, treating a loved one, giving to charity, or all of the above, when we buy a ticket we always have a little bit of hope and our imaginations go wild when we hear about the unclaimed winning ticket...

When it comes to winning big on the lottery, which states are the luckiest? To determine where in America has the greatest likelihood of winning the big bucks, OLBG analyzed all lottery winners in the U.S. with a jackpot of $300 million or more. You can see the top 15 states below.

California was ranked 12th luckiest state despite having the highest number of big lottery winners, primarily because the state has such a large population that there are very few lottery winners, and the average winning ticket for a California winner is only $190.5 million.

North Carolina has won a whopping $1.1 billion between both lottery winners, making its average winning ticket $550 million, the highest in the country. As a result of its higher population, North Carolina didn't quite capture the title by itself, with a lower percentage of its population winning than New Hampshire.

In terms of lottery jackpot winners, New Hampshire and North Carolina share the gold for the luckiest states. Residents in New Hampshire have won a total of $693.7 million, which is an average of $346.85 million per winning ticket. As one of the states with the highest percentage of people who have won over $300 million, New Hampshire has the third smallest population.