Wrong ticket leads to $200K lottery win for Fayetteville Army vet

Henry Lipsey, an Army Veteran, bought his winning ticket Monday afternoon at B&B Bowling Lanes on Ft. Bragg Road.

“I’m part of a senior bowling league. We didn’t win our games, so I decided I might have better luck playing a scratch-off ticket,” he said.

Lipsey originally wanted to play the Crown Jewels scratch-off game, but the clerk told him they were sold out. He instead decided to buy some Carolina Panthers tickets.

“I scanned the first ticket and didn’t win anything,” Lipsey said. “When I scanned the second ticket it said, ‘Go to lottery headquarters.’ I turned it over and scratched it. When I saw the helmet and the number, I got a big smile on my face. I was a happy camper.”

Lipsey claimed the prize with his wife and daughter on Tuesday and took home $141,003 after taxes. He said he plans to use some of the money to pay for a cruise to celebrate his 50th wedding anniversary.

“We’re going to the Dominican Republic and the Turks and Caicos Islands,” he said. “We’ve been married a long time. I always say, ‘Happy wife, happy life.’”

Lipsey is the first person to win the $200,000 top prize on the Carolina Panthers scratch-off game, which launched this month.

All tickets can be entered into three second-chance drawings for VIP experiences at a Panthers game, including access to a luxury suite for all home games in the 2019 season, a stadium tent tailgating package or a behind-the-scenes game experience.