Holiday tradition delivers the best Christmas present six weeks late
By Kate Northrop
RALEIGH, N.C. — A North Carolina man's Christmas miracle might have been delayed, but a $1 million second-chance lottery win made it worth the wait.
One North Carolina lottery fan was eager to make the best use of his Christmas gifts even if they didn't pan out like he had hoped. His approach was well-awarded when he found out he won a $1 million second-chance prize in the lottery.
Ray Abbott of Raleigh always buys his family Christmas-themed scratch-off tickets every holiday season — it's a tradition, after all.
"I always buy Christmas tickets and put them in their stockings," he explained to the North Carolina Lottery.
Even if the results of his gifts were nothing to write home about, he made sure they didn't entirely go to waste. He entered the 2025 season holiday scratch-off tickets into his online lottery account, which automatically gave him eligible entries into the Lottery's Merry Million Second Chance drawing.
After the drawing occurred on Feb. 4, 2026, he received a notification from the Lottery that made his and his family's heads spin.
"This is wild," Abbott told Lottery officials, recalling the moment he got the message. "My wife is at home freaking out."
While the draw awarded two prizes of $25,000 and ten prizes of $5,000, Abbott emerged as the one player to win the $1 million top prize out of 35 million total entries in the drawing.
"It's just unbelievable," Abbott related. "I'm still in shock right now. This is crazy."
He visited Lottery headquarters in Raleigh on Friday to claim his prize, and he was offered a choice: take the prize as an annuity of $50,000 payments paid out over 20 years or the one-time lump sum of $600,000.
He opted to take the lump sum and walked away with $432,060 after federal and state taxes — a delayed Christmas miracle, but a miracle all the same.
When asked what he plans on doing with the winnings, Abbott said he plans on using them to pay off some bills, save for retirement, and take a vacation with his family.
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Great job Ray.
Late Christmas or early summer vacation fund, congrats Ray.
Like always NCEL continues with the bubby buddy BS on the 2nd chance Drawings.. Choosing family and friends. Why is it only Caucasians are the only winners 95% of the time..I'm going to write the AG and Congress as well as talk to an Attorney.. 😡