RALEIGH — Matthew Shepherd of Burnsville won a $952,821 jackpot on Wednesday afternoon by playing a $5 digital instant game.
Shepherd, 35, won the Grand Fortune jackpot in the Monopoly game, which features a progressive jackpot that can be won at any time. The odds of winning were 1 in 10 million.
“I was just killing time out of boredom,” Shepherd recalled. “When it stopped at the jackpot I was like, ‘There’s no way.’”
Shepherd claimed his prize on Monday at lottery headquarters and took home $683,651 after federal and state tax withholdings. He plans to use his winnings to invest and possibly buy a new truck. After Shepherd’s win, the jackpot reset at $150,000 and has climbed over $431,000 as of Monday afternoon. Monopoly is a multi-state digital instant game, meaning the progressive jackpots grow higher, faster, and winners could come from other states as well.
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