For over a week, first time lottery player Bonnie Cox of Holden Beach carried around a scratch-off ticket worth $200,000 and didn’t even know it.

“I just put it in my purse and forgot about it,” Cox said. “I only remembered to scratch it, because it was getting in the way when I was looking for something.”

Cox said she decided to buy her first lottery ticket while she was at the Food Lion on South Willis Drive in Shallotte. She bought two $500 Frenzy scratch-off tickets.

“I just felt like it would be fun to play the lottery,” Cox said.

She put the tickets in her purse and left them there until she was in her office over a week later.

“I couldn’t believe it,” Cox thought after she scratched the tickets. “I kept looking at it and looking at it. I figured I was reading it wrong since this is the first time I’ve played.”

Cox claimed her prize Wednesday at lottery headquarters in Raleigh. After required state and federal tax withholdings, she took home $139,003. She plans to use the money to pay medical bills.

$500 Frenzy launched in July with six top prizes of $200,000. Three top prizes remain.

Ticket sales from instant games like $500 Frenzy make it possible for the lottery to raise more than half a billion dollars a year for education. For details on how lottery funds have made a difference in Brunswick County, click on the “For Education” section of the lottery’s website.