Mechanic from Granville County wins $10 million on the way to the landfill

A Granville County man won the top prize in the $10 million Colossal Cash scratch-off game on Thursday, the largest instant ticket prize available in North Carolina.

A group of N.C. Education Lottery officials and media gathered at lottery headquarters in Raleigh on Thursday to celebrate the winner, Theodore Duncan. After being greeted by cheers and confetti, Duncan and his fiancée were handed a $10 million check.

According to Duncan, a 52-year-old mechanic from Oxford, he bought the lucky ticket at the Berea Mini Mart on U.S. 158 West in Oxford on his way to the landfill to dump trash. "I buy three or four [tickets] a week," he said. “I always told people that one day I’d hit the lottery. Today’s that day. It feels so good.”

When Duncan scratched off the numbers in his truck, he said he couldn't believe what he saw.

"I said, 'I won, I won, I won," he said. "I panicked, I just looked down at it."

Duncan called his fiancée and his brother, who told him to get to Raleigh immediately to claim his price.

Duncan chose to take home a lump sum of $4,245,009 and said, as of today, he is retired.

When asked if it was hard to make the decision to leave his job, Duncan laughed and said no. "I have been working since I was 15," he said, adding that he knows someone out there needs his job. "I was blessed. It is a great company," he said.

“I’m going to retire and get a brand new three-bedroom house with a big pool," Duncan said, adding that he plans to spoil his kids and grandkids but that he won't move out of his "little town" of Oxford. He also plans to donate $100,000 of his money to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital.