RALEIGH – When Pauline Bordes of Lillington got the news she had won $1 million in the lottery’s Ultimate Millions second-chance drawing, she said she just found it too good to be true.

“I have these dreams where something wonderful happens, and then I wake up,” Bordes said Monday. “I kept saying, all day long, ‘I hope I don’t wake up.’”

Bordes’ entry was drawn from more than 1.1 million entries in the Aug. 10 second-chance drawing. A North Carolina native, she lived much of her life in New Jersey and played lottery games there before coming home in retirement last year.

“I’m still in shock,” Bordes said as she collected her prize. “But I can definitely say that the North Carolina lottery has changed my life.”

Bordes had the choice of taking a $1 million annuity that has 20 payments of $50,000 a year or a lump sum of $600,000. She chose the lump sum payment and after federal and state tax withholdings received $415,500. She rents her home now, but said she would use her prize money to buy her own. She said she also would pay off all her bills, including her car loan, and help pay for her grandson’s college education.

The win came in the second of three second-chance drawings associated with the Ultimate Millions game. The drawing also awarded ten prizes of $5,000 and 25 prizes of $500. The $30 game started last September with four $10 million top prizes and 18 prizes of $1 million that can be won instantly. Two of the $10 million prizes and four of the $1 million instant prizes remain to be claimed. Every Ultimate Millions ticket can be entered into the second-chance drawing. No date has been set yet for the third and final second-chance drawing.

Ticket sales from games like Ultimate Millions made it possible for the lottery to raise more than half a billion dollars for the state last year. For details on how $47.6 million in lottery funds have made a difference in Harnett County, click on the “For Education” section of the lottery’s website.