Man Dreaming Of Retirement Spends Gas Money On Lottery Ticket, Wins $1M

Roger Shue is 64 and has been dreaming about retiring from his job as a boiler operator.

However, it didn’t seem feasible until this week, when Shue walked into North Carolina Education Lottery headquarters in Raleigh and claimed a $1 million prize.

Lottery officials gave him two options.

“He could choose to receive the prize as an annuity of $50,000 over 20 years or a lump sum of $600,000,” lottery officials said in a news release.

He chose the lump sum.

Shue, who lives in Montgomery County, walked out with a check for $426,069, “after required state and federal tax withholdings,” officials said.

“It really didn’t hit me for a couple hours. Then I just started shaking,” Shue said in the release.

“It couldn’t have come at a better time. ... Now I can retire early.”

His winning $30 scratch-off ticket was in the $10,000,000 Colossal Cash game, which has a top prize of $10 million.

Shue’s ticket got him a second-tier prize, and he beat odds of 1 in 990,000.

He told lottery officials he owes the win to “a last-second decision” to spend his gas money on a second ticket while at a convenience store in his hometown of Star.

“I scratched the first one and nothing,” Shue said. “It was the second one I bought that hit the million.”

Shue gave lottery officials a list of things he intended to spend the money on, including “pay some bills, remodel his house, and share his winnings with his four sons.”

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