Celebration of pure joy erupts in store after prize reveal
By Kate Northrop
SANFORD, N.C. — A North Carolina lottery winner experienced a moment of unbridled delight upon discovering his $2 million win, embracing the store clerk who sold him the ticket.
It was all smiles, hugs, and celebrations in a local convenience store when one North Carolina man discovered he had won $2 million on a lottery ticket.
Sheldon McDougald of Broadway stopped at the Circle K convenience store on Broadway Road in Sanford last Tuesday morning. That's when he noticed the North Carolina Lottery's $20 "$2,000,000 Riches" scratch-off game for sale and decided to pick one up.
The outcome of that decision would be felt around that store in waves, starting with McDougald himself. When he discovered it was worth a $2 million top prize right then and there, he went to the cashier who sold him the ticket to pull her in for a happy embrace.
"I went up to the clerk and gave her a hug," he recalled to the Lottery. "I was just like, 'It can't be.' Two million, I couldn't believe it."
By the time he visited Lottery headquarters in Raleigh to collect the prize, McDougald said the win still hadn't sunk in yet. But one thing's for certain: it was good timing.
"It's always a good time to win some money," he told Lottery staff with a laugh.
He was presented with the choice of either taking the one-time lump sum of $1.2 million or annual payments of $100,000 over 20 years and chose the lump sum. After federal and state taxes, he collected a total of $864,126.
"It feels good," he added. "Anybody can win."
He said he plans on investing the winnings and using them to take care of his family.
Following McDougald's win, there is just one more remaining top prize of $2 million out of the four originally available at the game's launch in May 2023. There are also two out of eight second-tier prizes of $100,000 and two out of 24 third-tier prizes of $10,000 left to claim.
The overall odds of winning any prize in the game are 1 in 3.2.
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Congrats Sheldon.
"He was presented with the choice of either taking the one-time lump sum of $1.2 million or annual payments of $100,000 over 20 years and chose the lump sum. After federal and state taxes, he collected a total of $864,126."
I think it would be great if the prizes shown on scratch off tickets are the Lump Sum.
If it's 2M thats what it is then take off taxes.
Looks like everything must have an annuity version to make the prize look bigger and appealing.
Congratulations 🎉 on the win Sheldon.
Next time I go on a road trip, I will try some scratch off games 🤣🤣
Congrats Sheldon, enjoy every minute and keep handing out hugs.
👏 👏 👏 👏 congrats
Am I the only only one that feel taking a lumpsum is a big rip off.......100G a year for 20 years is way better because in 8 years he would get 800G and another 12 years......better to take the payouts over the 20years
You have a good point.
However, the time is shorter when the payments are all equal.
But with the way PB and MM annuity are determined, increasing every year and more towards the last five years, you would need around 19 to 20 years to get to the present lump sum value option.
In those 19 to 20 years the lump sum would have grown exponentially
That is true but why take a 20 year annuity when we don't know if we will around that long. Also no one knows where the money is being kept to pay out the annuity each year. If that place goes bankrupt, your money is gone. It reminds me of the Publishers Clearing House sweepstakes that went bankrupt in 2025. A guy had won the 5K a Week For Life prize, 10 years ago then quit his job. He had received a check for 260K a year for the last 10 years. Now the checks have stopped coming. At the age of 61 the guy has to now go out and look for a job since he has not worked in 10 years.