North Carolina Man Gets Mortgage Then Wins Lottery

One of the highlights of a movie that came out a few years ago called "Country Strong" was a song called "Timing is Everything." The lyrics of the opening verse came to mind this morning as I heard the story of Mebane's Benny Murphy.

When the stars line up
And you catch a break
People think you're lucky
But you know its grace

It can happen so fast
Or a little bit late
Timing is everything

Seriously, when the stars line up for you...they can REALLY line up. You see, one day, Alamance County's Murphy bought a house. Then the next day? Murphy thought, "Why not buy a lottery ticket. Who knows, maybe I can pay for the house?" (I'm not sure that's exactly what he thought but go with me). So Benny walked into a Quickmart in his hometown of Mebane, plopped down a buck on a Cash 5 ticket, and then? Well, the folks behind the counter DID joke that if he won the lottery, it would lower his mortgage payments. Lower them? How about ELIMINATE!

Benny Murphy's one dollar investment immediately balloon to nearly $500,000 ($439,527 to be exact). I imagine the roughly, one-hour drive from Mebane to Raleigh was about as sweet as it gets. Once he arrived at the North Carolina Education Lottery office, WXII News 12 reports Murphy claimed his prize at l and, after required federal and state tax withholdings, took home $314,262.

I'll give you three guesses and the first two don't count as to Benny Murphy's plans for his lottery windfall. Yup, he plans to pay off his new home purchase (shoot, it's getting paid off BEFORE the first mortgage payment is even due?!). Oh, and also to take a fishing trip and put some away for a rainy day when perhaps his stars aren't in the perfect alignment that they are right now.

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.