Columbus County man planning trip to Hawaii after $500,000 lottery win

COLUMBUS COUNTY, NC (WWAY) — A Cerro Gordo man is $500,000 richer thanks to a lucky spin.

66-year-old Darrell Riley had a chance to spin a giant prize wheel Wednesday at the Bigger $pin Live Event and watched in anticipation as the wheel landed on a $500,000 prize.

“I never imagined winning a half-million dollars,” Riley said.

Riley first got lucky when he bought his $10 Bigger $pin scratch-off from the Circle K on Long Branch Road in Dunn.

“I didn’t know what I won, I just called my wife and said ‘Sweetie, I may have won some money,’” Riley said.

After his big spin Wednesday, Riley now knows he won half a million dollars. After required state and federal tax withholdings, he took home $355,316.

He said he plans to give some of his winnings to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, pay some bills, and go to Hawaii this Thanksgiving with his wife.

“We never took a honeymoon trip so that’s what our Hawaii trip will be,” Riley said.

Riley is the fifth person to get a chance to win one of the $2 million prizes. At the first event in November, a retired Greensboro postal worker won $900,000 and a Durham cook won $400,000. At the second event in January, a manufacturing plant worker from Fayetteville won $500,000. At the third event in July, a retired certified nursing assistant from Mount Gilead became the first $2 million winner.