Dolores Ruiz of Charlotte tried her luck on a $5 scratch-off ticket and won a $200,000 lottery prize.
Ruiz bought her Sapphire 7s ticket from the Royal Stop on Eastway Drive in Charlotte.
She claimed her prize Thursday at lottery headquarters in Raleigh. After required state and federal tax withholdings, she took home $129,500.
The Sapphire 7s game launched this week with six top prizes of $200,000. Ruiz is the first winner of one of the top prizes. Five remain to be claimed.
Ticket sales from scratch-off games like Sapphire 7s make it possible for the lottery to raise more than $900 million per year for education. For details on how $60.5 million raised by the lottery made a difference in Mecklenburg County in 2020, visit www.nclottery.com and click on the “Impact” section.