RALEIGH – Sandra Ham, a retired electronics specialist from Elon in Alamance County, considers herself among the luckiest lottery players she knows. She has previously won a $1,000 prize and said she routinely wins $100 prizes playing instant scratch-off games. Ham, however, always knew that she would eventually win a $1 million prize. On Wednesday morning, as she scratched off one of the four Red Hot Millions tickets she purchased at the Raygo Mart on Edgewood Avenue in Burlington, that dream became a reality.

“I sat there and looked at that ticket,” Ham said. “I shook my head and said ‘It’s about time.’ I knew for years that I was going to win $1 million in the lottery. I told my family that. I’d tell anyone that would listen and nobody believed me. But they’ll believe me now.”

Ham said she has always been prepared for a win of this size.

“I was very calm,” Ham said. “I was ready for it. It’s something you have in your head. I just knew that eventually I was going to win.”

The Red Hot Millions game marks the first time that a N.C. Education Lottery instant game has allowed players who scratch off a $1 million prize to choose between a 20-year annuity prize or take a discounted lump sum cash prize.
Players who choose the annuity receive $50,000 a year for twenty years. Those who choose the lump sum receive a cash prize of $680,000. Ham chose the lump sum option. After taxes, she received a payment of $462,403. Ham plans to use her winnings to help her family and maybe take a vacation to Disney World or Hawaii.

As of Wednesday, three more $1 million top prizes remain to be claimed in the Red Hot Millions game.

From March 30, 2006 through June 30, 2010, Alamance County players have won more than $56 million in lottery prizes and county retailers have earned more than $7.1 million in commissions on ticket sales.

During the same time period, Alamance County education programs have received more than $19.7 million in lottery funds. By law, those funds benefit teacher salaries, school construction, need-based college scholarships and prekindergarten programs.

To date, the N.C. Education Lottery has raised more than $2 billion for the education initiatives it serves statewide.