Shirley Pugh of Walkertown will get $50,000 a year for the next two decades after she won $1 million playing 50X The Cash.

“I’m going to use the money for retirement,” Pugh said. “It will be wonderful to have a reliable source of extra income every year.”

Pugh’s good luck happened when she stopped by the Laxmi Food Mart on Reidsville Road in Walkertown to get some scratch-off tickets.

“I enjoy playing,” Pugh said. “I think getting a scratch-off ticket is fun.”

She scratched the tickets when she got home and couldn’t believe it when she realized she won.

“I felt numb,” Pugh said. “I never dreamed that something like this would happen to me.”

Pugh claimed the prize Thursday at lottery headquarters in Raleigh. She 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 annuity, and received her first payment of $50,000. After required state and federal tax withholdings, she took home $34,753.

The $10 ticket launched in February 2017 with four top prizes of $1 million. Two top prizes remain.

Ticket sales from games like 50X The Cash make it possible for the lottery to raise more than $600 million a year for education. 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.