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Mostly cloudy in the morning. Isolated thunderstorms may develop later in the day. Gusty winds and small hail are possible. High 81F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 40%..
Tonight
Mostly cloudy with scattered thunderstorms mainly before midnight. Low 59F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 40%.
When Jonathan Bate purchased a lottery ticket Wednesday, he didn't receive the ticket he asked for. The ticket he received instead ended up winning him $5 million.
Bate, of Poughkeepsie, New York, works as a construction superintendent and was in North Carolina for a job.
After getting off work Wednesday morning, he stopped at Family Fare on Maple Avenue in Burlington to get a coffee and $20 scratch-off ticket. Bate didn't receive the ticket he had asked for but kept the one he was given.
When he returned to his car, he scratched off his ticket while drinking his coffee.
“I got to the fifth number and it was a winner, and I was like, ‘Wow, no way,’” he said. “It didn’t sink in at first. I still can’t believe I won.”
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Bate was given an option of receiving the $5 million prize as $250,000 a year for 20 years or as a lump sum of $3 million. Bate chose the lump sum and took home more than $2.1 million after taxes.
Bate said he plans to spend the money on a new truck and on his granddaughter's college tuition.
Bate won the last of three $5 million prizes in the $5 million Fortune lottery that was launched in August 2019.
Breaking news reporter Rachel Berry can be reached at rberry@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter @racheldberry.