Lottery player hit jackpot — but it took time to sink in. ‘I just paused and stared’
A lottery player scored a life-changing win — but it took time for his prize to sink in.
“I just paused and stared at it,” Jason Miller told the North Carolina Education Lottery. “Then I hopped out of my truck and showed my co-worker. He told me, ‘Good things happen to good people.’”
Miller won $150,000, the top prize in The Claw game. He planned to save most of his prize money as he marked a special occasion.
“I won it two days before my birthday,” Miller told lottery officials in a Feb. 5 news release.
The Claw is an online game that offers tickets starting at 50 cents. Miller spent $30 to try his luck, beating 1-in-2 million odds to hit the jackpot.
“It was very surreal,” Miller said. “That’s one of my favorite games.”
The lucky winner is from Monroe, a roughly 25-mile drive southeast from uptown Charlotte. He took home $107,633 after taxes.
It’s not the first time a jackpot prize has given a lottery player something extra to celebrate. Another North Carolina winner received an “early birthday present” when he scored a windfall, McClatchy News reported in May.
This story was originally published February 6, 2025 at 8:36 AM with the headline "Lottery player hit jackpot — but it took time to sink in. ‘I just paused and stared’."
