Craven County woman to take dad out for steak after he unknowingly gifts her winning $100,000 ticket

Destiny Poppell of New Bern says she plans to treat her dad after she was gifted what ended up being a $100,000 winning ticket.

Poppell’s dad and uncle bought a few scratch-offs, including a $30 $100,000 Cash Payday ticket, from Highway 33 Convenience Mart on N.C. 33 East in Edward. They took them home and gave one to Poppell.

Their tickets didn’t yield any prizes, but, as luck would have it, Poppell’s did. She won the $100,000 top prize. The odds of that win are 1 in 76,752.

“I had to check with my fiancé to make sure it was real, like I was reading it correctly,” Poppell recalled.

After realizing she won, she told her dad and uncle, who were “understandably a little salty but very excited.”

“They said, ‘There’s no one more deserving,’” Poppell smiled. “I want to say, ‘Thank you so much, dad. I will look out for you, don’t worry.’”

As part of that thank you, she plans to take her dad and uncle out to a nice steak dinner using her winnings. She also plans to help take care of her mom and put some of the funds towards law school.

Poppell arrived at the lottery headquarters on Friday to claim her prize. After state and federal tax withholdings, she took home $72,018.

The $100,000 Cash Payday game debuted in March with 80 $100,000 prizes. Fifty-four remain to be claimed.

A $15.2 million grant, using money raised by the lottery, will help Craven County with school construction on the new Freedom Middle School. For details on other ways money raised by the lottery made a difference in Craven County last year, visit www.eaglebackflow.com and click on the “Impact” section.