Tomas Munoz of Biscoe won the first $1 million top prize in the new Triple Red 777 Jackpot scratch-off after buying a $10 ticket that carried his lucky number. The win came from Candor V Mart on South Main Street in Candor, where he scratched the ticket and felt the result hit him all at once.
"Seven is my number," Munoz said. "I was born on the 7th in ’77." He also said, "I felt emotions all over my body."
The timing matters because the Triple Red 777 Jackpot only debuted this month with three top prizes of $1 million, and Munoz has now claimed the first one. Two remain on the board. He arrived at lottery headquarters Monday and had to pick between an annuity of $50,000 over 20 years and a lump sum of $600,000. He chose the lump sum, which left him with $396,060 after required tax withholdings.
That payout is enough to change the scale of the win without changing the way Munoz plans to use it. He said he wants to invest the money and keep restoring classic cars. The game still has two $1 million prizes left, which means the next player to hit the right ticket could still be looking at the same kind of windfall.
Montgomery County has also received grants totaling over $2.6 million from money raised by the lottery to help with school construction, a reminder that the game’s prizes sit alongside a larger stream of public money. For Munoz, though, the story is simpler: he chased the number 7, and it paid off in a way he could not have missed.
