NC trucker wins nearly $500,000 after buying ticket ahead of long-haul drive

Aug 24, 2020 at 10:11 AM CST
ETOWAH, N.C. (WGHP) — Truck driver Timothy Tucker, of Etowah, says winning Sunday’s $480,592 Cash 5 jackpot “was a shocker,” according to an NC Education Lottery news release. Tucker stopped at Mr. Pete’s Market on Brevard Road in Etowah on Sunday morning. He knew he’d be heading to Boston the following morning, and his routine before a long-haul drive is to buy his Quick Pick tickets before he goes. Tucker said he called the next day “to see if anybody won.” It turns out he had won. “I called it about 25, 30 times,” Tucker said, who had been up all night driving. Tucker says with a laugh that when he told his wife, “she didn’t believe me at first,” but then she “was really excited.”

Aug 24, 2020 at 10:11 AM CST

ETOWAH, N.C. (WGHP) — Truck driver Timothy Tucker, of Etowah, says winning Sunday’s $480,592 Cash 5 jackpot “was a shocker,” according to an NC Education Lottery news release. Tucker stopped at Mr. Pete’s Market on Brevard Road in Etowah on Sunday morning. He knew he’d be heading to Boston the following morning, and his routine before a long-haul drive is to buy his Quick Pick tickets before he goes. Tucker said he called the next day “to see if anybody won.” It turns out he had won. “I called it about 25, 30 times,” Tucker said, who had been up all night driving. Tucker says with a laugh that when he told his wife, “she didn’t believe me at first,” but then she “was really excited.”