A Swainsboro father plans to give his teenage daughter a special present this year after winning $75,000 in the 2007 Bingo Party instant game on her birthday.

George Faircloth Jr., 38, said he scratched the top prize ticket while traveling through Twin City on his way to work. He purchased the winning ticket at Timesaver #0110 located at 2641 Highway 80 East in Twin City.

“I stopped for a bottle of water and medicine to take care of a bit of sinus flare-up,” said Faircloth, whose work requires him to travel. 

“Right now I’m walking on cloud nine,” he said. “And I took the rest of the day off.”

Faircloth and his wife, Lisa, have a 13-year-old daughter and an 8-year-old son. He plans to buy birthday presents, pay bills and set aside money for the holidays.

Before winning this prize, Faircloth won $1,000 playing the instant game Giant Jumbo Bucks in 2003 during the Christmas holidays.

“What luck,” he said.

Since its first year, the Georgia Lottery Corporation has returned over $8.6 billion to the state of Georgia for education. All Georgia Lottery profits go to pay for specific educational programs including Georgia’s HOPE Scholarship Program and Georgia’s Prekindergarten Program. More than 900,000 students have received HOPE Scholarships, and more than 700,000 4-year-olds have attended the statewide, voluntary prekindergarten program.