Kinston man is $200,000 richer

A Kinston man claimed a nice prize this week from the N.C. Education Lottery in Raleigh.

Samer Suleiman recently bought a winning instant scratch-off lottery ticket from the Rightway Store located on North Heritage Street. He won the top prize in the $200,000 Jackpot instant scratch-off game.

"Customers can eat here, get gas here and win money here," Rightway Store area manager Jack Owens said.

Suleiman said he had planned to buy one lottery ticket from the store. But after noticing there were four tickets left in the $200,000 Jackpot instant scratch-off game, he decided to buy all of them.

The decision turned out to be a good one for Suleiman, who was stunned when he realized he had a winning ticket.

Suleiman plans to use his winnings to take a vacation, jump-start a new business and help with his new baby. The winning lottery ticket couldn't have come at a better time, he said.

Suleiman hasn't been the only $200,000 N.C. Education Lottery winner from the area; Pink Hill's Haywood Mercer won $200,000 in June 2006 from a Powerball ticket he bought in Beulaville.

Mercer, 62, purchased the 29-state Powerball ticket in the game's first week for North Carolina with winnings received from playing the state Education Lottery's scratch-off game "Tic Tac Toe."

During the fiscal year 2008, sales of instant scratch-off ticket climbed 3.6 percent from 2007, while Powerball sales dropped 8 percent.

So far, lottery revenue from 2009 is tracking with 2008, Alice Garland, N.C. Education Lottery spokeswoman said. According to Garland, the swell in the amount of scratch-off tickets being sold can likely be attributed to increased prize payouts.

In August 2005, Gov. Mike Easley signed into law the N.C. State Lottery Act and the 2005 Appropriations Act, which established the N.C. Education Lottery. Tickets first went on sale March 2006.

On Feb. 26, total sales for the N.C. Education Lottery surpassed $3 billion.  Only four states - including Florida, California, Texas and Georgia - reached state lottery sales of $3 billion in their first three years.

Chris Lavender can be reached at (252) 559-1078 or clavender@freedomenc.com.