North Carolina Man Starts New Year With $2 Million Lottery Win

Honestly, if I were to state a pie-in-the-sky new year's resolution, it would be to do whatever I can to improve my luck.  Not that I'm a particularly unlucky guy, I just really need to tap into whatever mojo all of these North Carolina Education Lottery winners appear to have already figured out.  For starters, I've been aiming to high with the Powerball and Mega Millions jackpots, I think.  Time to focus my sights on scratch-offs.  In 2024, I need to be less like me and more like Toy McLeod.

In the not-too-distant past, Toy McLeod, of Aberdeen, strolled into the Speedway on N.C. 5 in Aberdeen.  He purchased a $20 "100x" scratch-off ticket and faster than you can say "Happy New Year," Toy was $2 million richer.

There are two parts to these lottery winning stories that I've yet to see and am dying to.  First, wouldn't you love to see the reaction of the employee of the scratch off retailer (if the scratching takes place on site)?  I mean can you imagine the feeling of knowing you just changed the life forever of a person and his/her family?!

And two, I'd love to see some hidden camera footage of the winner and the ticket in the hours/days between winning and collecting.  No way could I let the ticket out of my sight.  And that means no way could I sleep until I went to Raleigh to collect.  I'd be fascinated to see the actions of the winners-to-be.  Then again, I'm an idiot.  Everyone else would probably be 100% normal.

Anyway, Toy McLeod showed up at the lottery office on Tuesday to collect his winnings.  He had a choice to make.  McLeod could choose to receive the prize as an annuity of $100,000 over 20 years or a lump sum of $1.2 million.

He chose wisely (IMHO).

Toy McLeod took the lump sum.  After required state and federal tax withholdings, he took home $858,006.

Happy New Year indeed.

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.