A $10 scratch-off bought at a Gastonia food mart turned into a $1 million payday for Emily Morgan — and the final top-prize hit for the game that sold it. Morgan claimed the prize last Friday after buying a Jumbo Bucks ticket at Bre-ina’s Food Mart, turning a routine stop into a very profitable detour.
WBTV reported that Morgan chose a $600,000 lump-sum payment instead of an annuity paying $50,000 a year for 20 years. After state and federal tax withholdings, she took home $432,063.
Jumbo Bucks’ Final Million-Dollar Prize
According to the North Carolina Education Lottery, Morgan bought the ticket at the Chapel Grove Road store in Gastonia and claimed it Friday. Her win was the eighth and final $1 million top prize available in Jumbo Bucks, so the lottery said it will begin the process of ending the scratch-off game.
The win also adds to Gastonia’s recent streak of headline-making scratch-offs. Hoodline previously reported that a Gastonia man claimed a $1 million prize in 2024 after buying a $10 ticket at Triple E Express & Grill, giving the city’s convenience-store lottery lore another oversized chapter.
The North Carolina Education Lottery said education programs in Gaston County received $14.2 million in support from lottery funds last year. For Morgan, though, the immediate math is simpler: a $10 purchase became more than $432,000 in cash after taxes.
