Gina Dillard of Mocksville said her mother recommended she try her luck with a Fast Play game so she took her advice, bought a $5 ticket on Tuesday night, and won $254,926.

“This was the first week I’ve ever tried playing Fast Play,” Dillard said.

Dillard, a 55-year-old nurse, bought her lucky Double Win ticket Tuesday at AJ Food Mart on Yadkinville Road in Mocksville.

The Fast Play rolling jackpot grows with every ticket purchased. When Dillard made her purchase, it had just reached $509,852. Because she bought a $5 ticket, she won 50 percent of the jackpot.

“I never could’ve dreamed this,” Dillard said. “I couldn’t even sleep last night.”

Dillard arrived at lottery headquarters Wednesday and, after required state and federal tax withholdings, took home $181,024. She said she would like to pay off her house and car with her winnings and then put the rest in savings.

When a Fast Play jackpot is won, it starts over at $20,000. On Thursday afternoon, the jackpot was $281,000 and growing. The odds of winning a Fast Play jackpot are 1 in 320,000.

Ticket sales from lottery games make it possible for the lottery to raise more than $2.5 million a day for education. For details on how $2.7 million raised by the lottery made a difference in Davie County in 2021, visit www.nclottery.com and click on the “Impact” section.