'Is This Real?': North Carolina Man Wins Big After Mom Buys Lottery Ticket

Sometimes good things happen when you least expect it. That's what one man in North Carolina discovered after he won a huge lottery prize following the loss of his father.

Bryan Castillo Quintana, of Greenville, is celebrating a big lottery win after scoring a huge $100,000 prize from a scratch-off ticket. According to a release from the NC Education Lottery, Quintana's mother the 21-year-old aspiring nurse a $25 Extreme Cash ticket from the Sheetz on North Memorial Drive in Greenville. She was with him when he scratched the ticket in her living room, revealing the six-figure win.

"When I saw it I was like, 'Is this real?'" he recalled. "We didn't believe it at first, I thought it must be a mistake."

Quintana claimed his prize at lottery headquarters on Tuesday (April 19), bringing home a total of $71,017 after all state and federal tax withholdings. When asked what he plans to do with his winnings, he said he hopes to pay some bills and help his family, especially after the recent loss of his father, who unexpected passed away in 2020.

"My dad was such an integral part of our family," said Quintana. "Now I'm just really excited that we have a form of stability in our life now."