For Jo Davis, a daycare worker from Red Springs, winning $200,000 means she can pay off her car and get a backyard pool for her two grandchildren.
“It will be good to get this for them,” Davis said. “Right now they’re occupied by their phones. We need to occupy them outside.”
Davis bought the “7” scratch-off ticket while she was getting groceries at the Food Lion on North Patterson Street in Maxton.
“I just felt lucky,” Davis said. “So I decided to get a ticket.”
When she scratched the $5 ticket, Davis couldn’t believe what she saw.
“I never thought I’d actually win,” Davis said. “I kept saying, ‘What? What? What?’”
Davis claimed her prize Wednesday at lottery headquarters in Raleigh. After required state and federal tax withholdings, she took home $139,003.
“7” launched in March with five top prizes of $200,000. Two top prizes remain.
Ticket sales from games like “7” 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 Robeson County, click on the “For Education” section of the lottery’s website.