‘It’s surreal’: Catawba County man finds lucky penny, wins $250,000 in lottery

MAIDEN, N.C. — Christopher Wray of Maiden thinks a lucky penny helped him land the top prize in a new North Carolina Education Lottery game.

Wray stopped for gas at the Quik Trip on North Chester Street in Gastonia.

“I went in to go use the facilities and, on the way in, I found a penny, heads up, on the ground,” he said. “And I was like, ‘Hey! Find a penny, pick it up. All day long, you’ll have good luck, right?’”

On the way out of the store, a new lottery scratch-off ticket caught his eye.

“I was like, ‘Well, I guess now that I have a penny, I have to use it,’” laughed Wray. “And I thought, ‘Well, these are new. Let’s grab one of these.’ And the first one, pop. I’m looking at it, like, this can’t be right.”

The 20X The Cash game launched this month with 10 top prizes of $250,000. Nine top prizes remain to be won.

Wray claimed his prize on Wednesday at lottery headquarters in Raleigh and, after required federal and state tax withholdings, took home $176,876

“I still don’t feel like I really get it,” he said. “It’s surreal.”

Cox Media Group