RALEIGH – For Patrice Sanford, a certified nursing assistant from Roxboro, a $200,000 lottery prize means she can buy her first home and go back to school.

Sanford’s good luck started on Monday when she and her fiancé, Tony, stopped by EZ Food Mart on Ridgeway Avenue in Durham to buy a few scratch-offs.

“I hadn’t played in two months,” said Sanford. “But I wanted to stop for some reason. I was feeling lucky.”

Sanford bought the last three $5 Mega Fortune tickets at the store. When she realized the first scratch-off was a $200,000 winner, she had to pinch herself.

“I kept looking at it,” said Sanford. “When I showed it to Tony, he didn’t believe me! We are always playing jokes on each other, so he thought I was playing!”

Sanford claimed her prize Tuesday at lottery headquarters in Raleigh. After required state and federal tax withholdings, she took home $139,003

“When my mother got sick,” said Sanford. “I told her I would buy a house where she could finally have her own room. That’s the best part of all this. I get to give that to her.”

Mega Fortune started in December with five top prizes of $200,000. Three more remain to be claimed.

Ticket sales from games like Mega Fortune 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 Person County, click on the “For Education” section of the lottery’s website.