Jerry Graham, Courtesy: NECL
High Point, NC-- What better way to start your birthday celebration than winning the lottery and not paying taxes on the win?
Now, meet the man who is doing just that, Jerry Graham of High Point. The day before 46th birthday he purchased one of the North Carolina Education Lottery "Taxes Paid" scratch-off tickets. Imagine his surprise after the ticket showed that he had won $100,000 with his initial taxes paid.
Graham, told lottery officials he is disabled truck driver. Graham said he and his sister went to Brentwood Grocery to buy fish for his birthday party. And while at the store, he decided to try his luck at the game. Graham let his sister scratch the card to see if they had a winner while sitting in their car in the parking lot.
According to Graham, his sister started yelling. "I said, 'Calm down. I don't know what it is yet.' You just keep looking at it. ...You keep asking yourself, "Is this real?"
Graham is the second player to win the top prize in the new $100,000 Taxes Paid game. The $5 game marks the first time the lottery has offered players the chance to take home one of six after-tax prizes of $100,000.
The lottery pays the minimum mandatory required federal and state tax withholding as part of the top prizes awarded in the game. The actual top prize Graham claimed was $147,000.
Graham said he planned to use his winnings to help his sister and then put the rest into savings. "She's been going through some hard times," he said. "Lost her husband, and is struggling with that."