Connie Lockhart of Charlotte tried her luck on a Power 10s ticket and scored a $1 million top prize.

Lockhart, who works as a receiving clerk, purchased her winning ticket from the Den’s Mart on The Plaza in Charlotte.

Sitting in her car, Lockhart started scratching her ticket and paused. “I just put it to the side because I’m like, ‘Mm, let me make sure I’m looking at it right,” she said.

Lockhart moved on to her two other tickets before coming back to her Power 10s ticket. “I picked that one back up and I scratched it some more to make sure I’m reading $1 MIL and then I was just shaking,” she recalled.

She claimed her prize Wednesday at lottery headquarters in Raleigh.

Lockhart had the choice of taking the $1 million as an annuity of 20 payments of $50,000 a year or a lump sum of $600,000. She chose the lump sum and took home $424,503 after required state and federal tax withholdings.

“I’m paying my bills off,” she said. “Then I’ll help my daughter finish paying off her loan, eventually go on vacation when we can and build a deck on my house.”

Ticket sales from scratch-offs make it possible for the lottery to raise more than $725 million a year for education. For details on how lottery funds have helped all of North Carolina’s 100 counties, click on the “Impact” section of the lottery’s website.