“We were watching football with some friends and Clemson got beaten badly by Notre Dame,” Strickland, 29, said in a news release. “We joked that we should go buy lottery tickets because our luck It couldn’t be worse.”
But it wasn’t a joke for the welder, who used his phone to buy a $3 “Quick Pick” ticket before the draw.
“It was really the last minute before the drawing,” he said in the release.
His spontaneous decision paid off. He won $50,000, increasing his prize to $150,000 with the “3X Power Play Multiplier.”
Strickland was stunned by his victory. He called his mum to share the news, then sent screenshots of his win to friends who were watching the soccer game with him.
“It’s just an unbelievable day because I’ve never won anything before,” he said in the release.
The lucky winner took home a total of $106,516 after taxes, according to a press release. He plans to invest some of the money and put the rest in savings.