Paula Graham said she had a hunch back in May that she was going to win the top prize playing the $200,000 a Year for Life game. Instincts paid off big for the Advance resident now that she has won the prize of a lifetime: a guaranteed $4 million prize that could be worth much more as it continues to pay her for the rest of her life.

Today, Executive Director Alice Garland presented Graham with a check at a celebration held at Carleton’s Tanglewood where Graham purchased her winning ticket. The store is located just off I-40 exit 182 on Clemmons Road, in Clemmons. Graham first noticed the $200,000 a Year for Life game while waiting in line to buy Powerball tickets from Carleton’s.

Graham said she played instant games only a few times in five years since the lottery began. After a series of lesser wins playing $200,000 a Year for Life, Graham said she was “shocked” on the morning of Sunday, July 10 when she scratched off the life-changing prize. “In another sense it was not a surprise,” she added, “Because in my head I’d been thinking for two months that I was supposed to play this game.”

Graham said she plans to use her initial winnings, which totaled $136,006 after taxes, to take a trip and maybe buy a new car. In particular, she has her eye on an Infiniti SUV. Graham or her estate will receive similar payments for the next 19 years and they will continue long as she lives. “I’m turning 51,” Graham said, adding “I’m going to be living for a long time.”

Tickets for the $200,000 a Year for Life game went on sale Jan. 25. The game launched with three top prizes of $200,000 a year for life, one of which was claimed by a Morrisville man in February. With the most recent winner stepping forward, one top prize remains unclaimed. Additionally, four of seven prizes of $50,000 a Year for Life are still in the game.

From inception through June 30, 2010, Davie County players have won more than $8.8 million in prizes. Through the same time period, Davie County education programs have received more than $6.9 million in lottery funds. Forsyth County education programs have received more than $49.3 million in lottery funds. To date, the N.C. Education Lottery has raised more than $2 billion for the education initiatives it serves statewide.