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A man in North Carolina hopes to pay it forward and help out others after scoring a massive lottery win.
John Robbins, of Wilmington, recently stopped by the Han-Dee Hugo's on North College Road to purchase a $20 Ultimate 7s scratch-off ticket. When he scratched the ticket, revealing that he was the lucky winner of a top prize of $2 million, he couldn't believe it. According to a release from the NC Education Lottery, it didn't fully sink in until he asked a coworker to see if it was actually a winner.
"He looked at it and said, 'Man you got it. This is the big one,'" he recalled, adding, "I had to keep my composure. I didn't want to alarm too many people."
Robbins claimed his prize at lottery headquarters, choosing to receiving the $2 million prize as either an annuity of $100,000 per year over the course of 20 years or as a one time, lump sum payment of $1.2 million. In the end, he chose the latter, bringing home a grand total of $852,126 after taxes.
So what does he plan to do with his new winnings? Robbins wants to spread the love and help others, telling lottery officials he knows what it's like to struggle with two jobs and not having the funds to branch out with his own business.
"I want to help out a struggling entrepreneur," he said. "In other words, passing it forward."