RALEIGH, N.C. — As Nichalis Rider of Hillsborough sat in a Best Buy parking lot on March 7, waiting for the store to open, he decided to play a digital instant game on his phone and won a $100,000 prize.
“I just sat there thinking, ‘No way this just happened,’” he recalled. “It was pure insanity.”
Rider won his big prize playing Robo Cash. He played $10 to win $100,000 and the odds of that win are 1 in 2 million. He said he immediately told his wife the big news.
“She thought I was playing a joke on her so I sent her a screenshot,” he laughed.
Rider said he started playing digital instant games for the convenience of them. He chose the Robo Cash game because he previously won a big prize playing it.
“I actually won five grand earlier on the same game,” he said.
Rider claimed his prize at lottery headquarters Tuesday in Raleigh. After required federal and state tax withholdings, he took home $71,503. He plans to do some small house projects and invest the rest of his winnings.
The big win came a few months after the launch of new digital instant games. The games offer a new way to play the lottery and win prizes. In the Robo Cash game, a player can play from 50 cents to $10. The top prize that can be won is $100,000.