Wake County man claims $1 million lottery prize in Raleigh

A routine stop at a Fuquay-Varina grocery store turned into a seven-figure payday for Jared Smith, who bought a $10 50X The Cash scratch-off at the Harris Teeter on East Broad Street and hit the game’s $1 million top prize. He later claimed the prize at North Carolina Education Lottery headquarters in Raleigh.

Smith’s windfall came with a choice that lottery winners across Wake County often face: a $50,000-a-year annuity for 20 years, or a lump sum of $600,000. He picked the lump sum, and after required state tax withholdings, his take-home amount was $432,063. That gap between the headline prize and the cash actually collected is the part of the story that matters most for readers weighing what a big lottery win really means.

The 50X The Cash game is listed by the North Carolina Education Lottery as a $10 scratch-off with overall odds of 1 in 3.75. The version currently on the lottery’s site was released Jan. 30, 2026, and the game’s top prize is $1,000,000. Players win by matching numbers or uncovering multiplier symbols, including 2X, 5X, 10X, 20X and 50X, which can boost a prize quickly on a single ticket.

The scale of the game helps explain why a win in Wake County can draw so much attention. The lottery says new scratch-offs come out every First Tuesday, and more than 7,000 retail locations across North Carolina sell tickets. ABC11 reported that 50X The Cash launched in January with 12 top prizes of $1 million, and 10 of those top prizes were still unclaimed when Smith’s win was reported. That means the game was still producing fresh interest for players from Fuquay-Varina to Raleigh and beyond.

Smith’s claim also fits a pattern familiar to lottery watchers in the Triangle. A separate Wake Forest couple also won $1 million on a $10 50X The Cash ticket bought from a Capital Boulevard retailer, underscoring how often these headline-grabbing wins surface close to home. In Wake County, a grocery run or gas-station stop can suddenly turn into a story with major financial stakes, and the difference between the advertised jackpot and the after-tax payout is where the real math begins.