Scratch-off tickets and other lottery-based items are a common gift. They typically are perfect when you don’t know what to get someone, but want to be slightly more creative than just giving cash or a gift card. They also come with the small possibility that the person could end up winning big on the ticket. Let’s be honest though, how often does that really happen?
Stephen Brady, who lives in North Carolina, was most likely thinking the same thing as he opened up a scratch-off gifted to him from his wife. The ticket was a “$30 Millionaire Maker” scratch-off that was purchased at a local Food Lion store as a Christmas gift and would appear to be nothing out of the ordinary. There was nothing routine about this in hindsight, however, as the ticket contained a $1 million dollar reward for Brady. Brady said he took the earnings as a single payment, although the taxes would bring down his eventual payout to around $600,000. That is still not bad for a ticket that likely cost his wife a few dollars. The North Carolina Education Lottery said that there are still seven more million-dollar prizes left in the state, so if you live in North Carolina, make sure to be on the lookout for this scratch-off ticket.
So next time you are unsure of what to get someone for the holidays or for a birthday, do not discount the idea of a scratch-off. You just may be the person that ends up changing someone’s life.
