On Sunday night, Samantha Williams of McColl, S.C., was visiting with family when talk turned to playing the lottery and what it would be like to win big.

“We kept talking about how good it would be if someone could win $1 million,” Williams said.

With that conversation in her head, she stopped Monday morning at Nic’s Pic Kwik on McColl Road in Laurinburg and bought an Extreme Millions scratch-off ticket.

“I told my son we needed to stop by the store because I felt lucky,” Williams said.

It turned out she was lucky. When she scratched the $30 ticket, she won $1 million.

“I held the ticket for at least five minutes and started screaming and crying,” Williams said. “I couldn’t believe it, and had my son check it. I told him, ‘Take the ticket and tell me if it’s real.’”

It was real, and she claimed her prize Monday at lottery headquarters in Raleigh. Williams 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 and after federal and state tax withholdings received $416,812. She plans to use some of the money to buy a house.

“North Carolina is my lucky state,” Williams said. “It still feels like a dream.”

Extreme Millions launched in December with four top prizes of $10 million and 22 prizes of $1 million. All top prizes and 19 $1 million prizes remain. There will also be four second-chance drawings with a prize of $1 million.

Ticket sales from games like Extreme Millions made it possible for the lottery to raise more than $634 million for the state last year. For details on how lottery funds have made a difference in all of North Carolina’s 100 counties, click on the “For Education” section of the lottery’s website.