A quick gas-and-go stop on Airport Boulevard turned into a quarter-million-dollar jolt for a Triangle man who says he was "about to cry" when his $50 scratch-off lit up with a $250,000 prize on the 500X The Cash ticket. After state and federal tax withholdings, lottery officials said he walked away with $180,039, and a suddenly much more comfortable path toward paying bills and padding his retirement.
Where The Winning Ticket Came From
According to The News & Observer, the lucky ticket was bought at Bull Market 123, a Mobil convenience store on Airport Boulevard in Morrisville. Station listings place the shop at 960 Airport Blvd, confirming the exact spot where the $50 ticket was sold and where one of the 500X The Cash game’s $250,000 prizes quietly changed hands.
His Reaction And Claim Trip
Winner Kevin Pavel told ABC11, "It was amazing. I was about to cry," adding that his wife did not believe him at first and needed to see a photo of the ticket before it sank in. Pavel later headed to North Carolina Education Lottery headquarters to make it official and claimed his prize. After state and federal withholdings, officials said he took home $180,039. He said he plans to use the cash to knock out some bills and firm up retirement plans.
How Lucky Is 500X The Cash?
The 500X The Cash scratch-off is a $50 ticket that launched in January and comes with top prizes of $10 million. At the time of Pavel’s win, lottery officials noted that none of the five $10 million top prizes had been claimed yet and that seven $250,000 prizes were still floating around in the game. The lottery’s figures, as summarized by The News & Observer, list the odds of hitting a $250,000 prize at roughly 1 in 1,630,503.
For Pavel, it all added up to the kind of small-stops-pay-off story lottery officials and corner stores hear every so often: a routine $50 buy at a neighborhood Mobil that turned into a life-altering win, originating from that address on 960 Airport Blvd in Morrisville.
