Lottery player ‘could hardly sleep’ after North Carolina win

A wife told her husband that someone had won a North Carolina lottery prize — then he checked his Powerball ticket.

Lloyd Armstrong and his wife, Deanna, soon learned his ticket was worth $1 million, according to the N.C. Education Lottery.

“We looked at each other and said, ‘what are we going to do now?’” Armstrong, who works as an insurance agent, told lottery officials in a Nov. 21 news release. “We could hardly sleep.”

Armstrong won big after making a pit stop at Duck Thru Food Store in Columbia, a Tyrrell County town roughly 150 miles east of Raleigh. While getting gas, he said he spent $2 on a ticket for the Powerball game.

Armstrong continued with his plan to play pool that night. But two days later, his wife and son told him about a lucky Tyrrell County lottery win, making him think: “I really need to check my ticket.”

When he looked at the numbers picked in the Nov. 18 drawing, he noticed that his ticket matched enough to be worth $1 million. He was one number away from winning the estimated jackpot prize of $280 million, McClatchy News reported.

Armstrong, whose ticket had gone unclaimed as of early Nov. 20, eventually came forward to cash in on his prize. He kept $712,501 after taxes, officials said.

“He plans to reach out to a financial planner, pay bills, donate to his church, and take a trip to Scotland with his winnings,” the N.C. Education Lottery wrote.

It’s not the first time a windfall has made it difficult for a lottery player to sleep. In January, another North Carolina man was “trying to figure out if I was dreaming” after he got richer, McClatchy News reported.