A Saturday run for errands set Elaine Pettiford of Oxford on a course that led to a $200,000 lottery prize.
Pettiford’s errands took her to the Rite Aid on Trade Street in Henderson where her good luck hit.
“I don’t normally play scratch-offs,” Pettiford said. “I like the draw games.”
But the new $200,000 Back Scratch ticket caught her eye, so she bought one to go with her Powerball and Cash 5 tickets. She didn’t scratch the ticket until early the next morning.
“I was shocked! I didn’t believe it,” Pettiford said.
She went to wake up her husband, who confirmed what she saw.
“He looked at it and told me ‘that’s real’, but it didn’t feel real until now,” Pettiford said as she received her “Big Check”.
Pettiford, who works as an administrative assistant, traveled to lottery headquarters in Raleigh on Tuesday to claim her prize. After required state and federal tax withholdings, she took home $141,003.
“I am going to pay off some bills,” Pettiford said. “And buy a new phone, my phone is old!”
The $200,000 Back Scratch game began this month with four top prizes of $200,000. Two remain to be claimed. Tickets in the Back Scratch family range from $1 to $10 and offer top prizes from $10,000 to $1 million. If a player turns any of the tickets over, they’ll find up to five more chances to win.
Ticket sales from games like $200,000 Back Scratch make it possible for the lottery to raise more than $650 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 “Impact” section of the lottery’s website.