Daphne Deberry of Asheboro said she did some dancing in her living room in the middle of the night after winning a $200,000 lottery prize.
Deberry became the first winner of the top prize in the new “7” game after buying a $5 ticket from the Quik Chek on South Main Street in Candor. She said she saved the ticket until the next day and scratched it at about 1:30 a.m.
“I danced around by myself,” said Deberry, a CNA. “I said to myself, ‘I think I won, I know I won.’”
She claimed her prize Friday at lottery headquarters in Raleigh and received $141,501 after required federal and state tax withholdings. Deberry said she planned to donate to her church and bring some cheer to residents of a nursing home where she worked for 21 years before moving to home health care.
“I still can’t believe it,” she said. “I feel good.”
The new “7” game launched this month with six top prizes of $200,000. Five prizes remain to be won.
Ticket sales from scratch-off games make it possible for the lottery to raise more than $725 million a year for education. For details on how $8.2 million raised by the lottery made a difference in Randolph County last year, visit www.nclottery.com and click on the “Impact” section.