Nash County man drove around with lottery ticket for days before realizing he won $100K

A Nash County man drove around with a winning lottery in his truck for several days before realizing it was worth $100,000.

Orlando Jones of Nashville said he bought three $4,000,000 Diamond Dazzler tickets at a Speedway on Bethlehem Road on Thursday night in Rocky Mount, put them in his truck and forgot about them.

“I didn’t scratch them until Monday night,” Jones said. “I never scratch my tickets when I get them. I just like the anticipation. I’m the same way with presents, I don’t open them until after Christmas.”

When Jones finally scratched his tickets, he won $20 on the first, $25 on the second and couldn’t believe his luck when the final ticket was a $100,000 winner.

“I had to go get my glasses and make sure I wasn’t seeing things,” he said. “It feels great to win.”

Jones claimed his prize Tuesday in Raleigh and took home $70,507 after taxes. He said he plans to use some of the money to pay off his truck and plans to keep waiting before scratching any lottery tickets he buys.

“I’ve got another scratch-off ticket in my truck right now,” he said. “I probably should have scratched it before I came in [to lottery headquarters]. Who knows, it could have $1 million on it.”

The $20 Diamond Dazzler ticket launched in Sept 2017 with three top prizes of $4 million, six $1 million prizes and six $100,000 prizes. Lottery officials said one $4 million prize, three $1 million prizes and two $100,000 prizes remain.