Grocery worker plays lottery at his NC supermarket — and wins a huge prize
A grocery worker played the lottery at his supermarket — and scored a big win.
Now, the North Carolina prize winner hopes to buy a new home.
“This is a blessing,” Michael Guilford told the N.C. Education Lottery in an Aug. 1 news release.
Guilford won $250,000 at a Harris Teeter in Raleigh. While at the grocery store where he works, he tried his luck on the 20X the Cash game.
“Something was just pushing me to buy that ticket,” Guilford said. “It was like instinct.”
It turns out, his intuition was spot on. He won a top prize in the $5 scratch-off game, which has proven to be lucky for him in the past.
“I won $1,000 on it a few years ago so I didn’t want to give up on playing it,” Guilford told lottery officials.
The lucky winner, who lives in Raleigh, kept $179,376 after taxes.
It’s not the first time a lottery player’s gut feeling has paid off. Another North Carolina man felt drawn to an online game that made him richer, McClatchy News reported in July.
This story was originally published August 4, 2025 at 12:57 PM with the headline "Grocery worker plays lottery at his NC supermarket — and wins a huge prize."
