Cary man wins $100,000 after buying scratch-off in Raleigh
A Cary man turned a $30 ticket from a Raleigh Exxon into $100,000, and 70 top prizes still remain on the new scratch-off.
Ayman Abu-Hammad of Cary turned a $30 scratch-off into a $100,000 prize after stopping at the Exxon on New Bern Avenue in Raleigh. After required state and federal tax withholdings, he took home $72,018.
The North Carolina Education Lottery said Abu-Hammad claimed the prize at lottery headquarters on Wednesday. The win was the full top prize on the $100,000 Cash Payday game, not a split payout or a lower-tier award, which makes the result especially notable for a ticket that cost the same as a routine dinner or a few tanks of gas.
The $100,000 Cash Payday game debuted in March 2026 and launched with 80 top prizes of $100,000, the most the lottery said it had ever offered on a single scratch-off. As of April 30, 70 of those top prizes were still unclaimed. The ticket sells for $30 and carries overall odds of 1 in 3.49, while the lottery says it offers the best odds of any ticket to win $100,000.
That combination of a recognizable Wake County winner, a Raleigh convenience-store stop and a six-figure payout is the kind of local lottery story that tends to travel fast. It ties an everyday purchase to a life-changing outcome and gives players a concrete place to imagine their own luck starting. In this case, the geography is as familiar as the odds are long: a Cary resident, a Raleigh gas station and a scratch-off bought on New Bern Avenue.
The game’s prize ladder also reaches well beyond the headline number, with remaining prizes listed at $30,000, $3,000, $500, $300, $150, $100 and $50. That structure helps explain why the ticket has drawn attention across Wake County and beyond, even as the top prize remains rare. For the lottery, it is another reminder that small-dollar bets can still produce outsized returns, and for players, the appeal is obvious: a $30 ticket, a quick stop in Raleigh and the possibility, however remote, of a $100,000 payday.
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