UNC-Duke game changed this man’s lottery routine. He and his team both got lucky

A North Carolina lottery player switched his routine so he could watch basketball — and it paid off big time.

Lee Tankard of Bath hit the jackpot with a ticket he bought before the UNC-Duke game on Feb. 6, the N.C. Education Lottery said Thursday.

“I went to buy the ticket earlier than I usually do because Carolina was playing at 6,” Tankard told officials. “I wanted to get home and watch that.”

Tankard, a Tar Heels fan, was in luck because his team won against their longtime rival.

But that was just the start to what lottery officials called his “winning streak.”.

The next day, officials said his ticket matched enough numbers in the Cash 5 game to split the $536,264 jackpot in half.

“It was just pure luck,” Tankard told the N.C. Education Lottery. “I couldn’t believe it. I was pretty much in shock.”

Officials said Tankard, who lives in Beaufort County, bought the winning ticket at Bath General Store & Market, roughly 125 miles east of Raleigh.

Now, Tankard keeps $189,704 after taxes. He told officials he may spend his prize money on a trip to Disney World.

“I’m very happy and pleased that I finally hit a jackpot,” Tankard said in a news release. “I’ve got a family I want to take care of. That’s why I play. Not for me but for the ones I love.”

As of Thursday, no one had come forward to claim the rest of the big prize. The other winning $1 ticket was sold at a Publix supermarket in Kill Devil Hills, according to the N.C. Education Lottery.

Officials said the winners beat nearly 1-in-a-million odds.

This story was originally published February 19, 2021 at 8:43 AM with the headline "UNC-Duke game changed this man’s lottery routine. He and his team both got lucky."

Simone Jasper

The News & Observer

919-836-5768

Simone Jasper is a service journalism reporter at The News & Observer in Raleigh, North Carolina.