Fortune cookie inspires man to play NC lottery — and he wins big. ‘It had to be fate’
A North Carolina lottery player checked his ticket — and kept seeing zeros.
Now, John Carter credits a fortune cookie with leading him to the six-figure win.
“We had Chinese food last night and we got a fortune cookie that said, ‘Don’t miss out on your chance to win big,’” Carter told the N.C. Education Lottery as he claimed his prize Aug. 1.
With inspiration from the fortune cookie, Carter spent $5 on a ticket for the Pot of Gold game. He bought the scratch-off at Hillsville Country Mart in Trinity, a roughly 20-mile drive southwest from Greensboro, lottery officials wrote in a news release.
Carter was still at the Randolph County store when he checked his ticket and discovered he won the game’s top prize.
“I started seeing zero, zero, zero,” Carter told lottery officials. “I thought, ‘This has got to be a dream.’”
It turns out, Carter won the last of four $200,000 prizes in the Pot of Gold game. Carter, who kept $143,001 after taxes, now hopes to pay bills and buy a fishing boat.
“I was thinking the fortune cookie was a sign,” Carter said. “It had to be fate.”
It’s not the first time someone has read a fortune cookie message then hit the jackpot. In Maryland, a number inside a takeout order led a man to a big windfall, McClatchy News reported in February.
This story was originally published August 2, 2024 at 8:34 AM with the headline "Fortune cookie inspires man to play NC lottery — and he wins big. ‘It had to be fate’."
