A Raleigh man won a $200,000 prize on Christmas eve from a scratch-off ticket
- A Raleigh resident won $200,000 off a scratch-off lottery ticket on Christmas Eve.
- Edisson Garcia Vargas unwrapped the ticket during a game with his family.
On Christmas Eve, Raleigh resident Edisson Garcia Vargas got a $5 lottery scratch-off ticket as a gift, and it wound up being worth $200,000, The Miami Herald reports.
Vargas and his family were playing a game, passing around a bowl of wrapped gifts, with each person choosing one to open— the classic party game known as "pass the parcel" in the UK.
When Vargas unwrapped a Harris Teeter scratch-off ticket, his girlfriend gave him a kiss for good luck.
The family was stunned when they realized he had won $200,000.
"Everybody was just in shock with their mouths open," Vargas recalled, per a North Carolina Education Lottery press release.
Vargas now has $142,501 after taxes, and he told lottery officials that he plans to invest the prize money.
Two $200,000 prizes remain to be claimed, per the lottery organization.