Amanda Sawyer of Pantego stopped to try her luck on a new “7” scratch-off ticket and wound up finding “the lucky one” that won her a $200,000 prize.
“It’s just still sinking in,” she said. “I still don’t believe it.”
Sawyer purchased her winning $5 ticket from the Waterfront Mini Mart on Park Drive in Washington.
She decided to scratch her ticket while having lunch with her mother and a few other family members.
“I was just like, ‘Oh my God, oh my God,’” she recalled.
She claimed her prize Monday at lottery headquarters in Raleigh and took home $141,501 after required federal and state tax withholdings.
“My husband has been wanting to retire, so this will help,” said Sawyer.
The new “7” game launched this month with six top prizes of $200,000. Four top prizes remain to be won.
Ticket sales from scratch-off games like “7” make it possible for the lottery to raise more than $725 million a year for education. For details on how $2.7 million raised by the lottery made a difference in Beaufort County last year, visit www.nclottery.com and click on the “Impact” section.