Ma Elena Lopez of Hillsborough shook with excitement when she and her husband won a $250,000 lottery prize.

Her husband bought the winning 20X The Cash scratch-off ticket when he stopped to get an energy drink at the Eagles on Hampton Point Boulevard in Hillsborough.

“When he showed me the ticket I started shaking,” Lopez said. “My husband almost cried. We are so happy.”

Lopez claimed the prize Thursday at lottery headquarters in Raleigh. After required state and federal tax withholdings, she took home $161,875. They plan to use the money to get a new house.

Players can enter their “X The Cash” scratch-off tickets into one of four second-chance drawings for a chance to win $50,000. The deadline to enter the first drawing is Sunday.

Ticket sales from games like 20X The Cash make it possible for the lottery to raise more than $650 million a year for education. For details on how $7.9 million in lottery funds made a difference in Orange County last year, click on the “Impact” section of the lottery’s website.