RALEIGH (News Release) – A celebration between Mooresville resident Francis Garcia Arita and his wife broke out Sunday after he became the first player to win a $100,000 prize playing a digital instant game.
“It was wild,” he recalled. “I still don’t believe it. Just unreal.”
Arita won his big prize playing The Lamp. He played $20 to win $100,000 and the odds of that win are 1 in 1,000,000. He said he immediately told his wife the big news.
“We were jumping around,” Arita laughed. “She was so happy.”
He said he started playing digital instant games after seeing a commercial for them on TV.
“I already had the app so I thought I would try it,” Arita said. “I started winning some so I kept playing.”
He claimed his prize at lottery headquarters Friday in Raleigh. After required federal and state tax withholdings, he took home $71,256.
Arita plans to pay some bills with his winnings and save the rest.
The big win came less than a month after the launch of new digital instant games. The games offer a new way to play the lottery and win prizes.
In The Lamp game, a player can play from 50 cents to $30. The top prize that can be won is $150,000.
Digital instant games are played exclusively online on the lottery’s website or on the NC Lottery Official Mobile App. Eleven different games are available to play online now.
