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- A Raleigh resident won $200,000 off a scratch-off lottery ticket on Christmas Eve.
- Edisson Garcia Vargas unwrapped the ticket during a game with his family.
- He plans to invest the $142,501 after taxes.
On Christmas Eve, Raleigh resident Edisson Garcia Vargas got a $5 lottery scratch-off ticket as a gift, and it wound up being worth $200,000, The Miami Herald reports.
Vargas and his family were playing a game, passing around a bowl of wrapped gifts, with each person choosing one to open— the classic party game known as "pass the parcel" in the UK.
When Vargas unwrapped a Harris Teeter scratch-off ticket, his girlfriend gave him a kiss for good luck.
A family mystery gift game made this holiday season pretty lucky for Edisson Garcia Vargas, who unwrapped a $200,000 prize from a More Money scratch-off. “Everybody was just in shock with their mouths open,” Vargas recalled. Congratulations, Edisson! https://t.co/g4653058vQ pic.twitter.com/ehygQvLrch
— NC Education Lottery (@nclottery) December 28, 2023
The family was stunned when they realized he had won $200,000.
"Everybody was just in shock with their mouths open," Vargas recalled, per a North Carolina Education Lottery press release.
Vargas now has $142,501 after taxes, and he told lottery officials that he plans to invest the prize money.
Two $200,000 prizes remain to be claimed, per the lottery organization.