Brynn Anderson/AP
- A mechanic won $138,624 from a Cash 5 prize in the North Carolina lottery.
- The mechanic, Gregory Warren, admitted that he had forgotten about the lottery ticket.
- Warren told NC Education Lottery that he might put the money towards a new business.
A North Carolina mechanic won almost $150,000 on a lottery ticket he forgot he purchased.
Gregory Warren of Franklinville told NC Education Lottery officials that he stopped at a BP gas station on September 29 and purchased a Quick Pick. The Cash 5 ticket had a $391,870 jackpot.
Warren said that the ticket soon slipped his mind, admitting that he doesn't "buy lottery tickets very often."
Four days passed before Warren remembered he needed to check his numbers.
"I forgot about it," Warren told officials. He later discovered that he won half of the $391,870 Cash 5 prize. After federal and state tax withholdings, Warren kept $138,624.
"I'm still kind of shocked. I didn't get a whole lot of sleep last night. Too much excitement!" he said.
The NC Education Lottery noted that the odds of winning a Cash 5 jackpot are 1 in 962,598.
Now, he hopes to put the money towards a new career endeavor.
"I think I'm going into business for myself mowing yards," Warren told officials. "I've got a 14-year-old son and I wanna get a business started so that he'll have something to do when he graduates from high school."
The other half of the jackpot went to a woman named Danielle Godette of New Bern.