RALEIGH – Lori Hurdle, a paper mill operator from Williamston in Martin County, plans to use a portion of the $200,000 prize she won playing Extreme Green to pay off her home. Hurdle arrived to claim her winnings in a brand new Chevrolet Silverado truck.

Hurdle decided to purchase four instant scratch-off tickets after she claimed with some Powerball winnings. She won on three of the four tickets, including a $5 prize, a $20 prize and the $200,000 top prize on the first ticket she scratched.

“I scratched off the first one and thought I had won $20,” Hurdle said. “Then maybe $2,000. The zeroes just kept coming. I can pay everything off now. It feels pretty good.”

Hurdle, who also may purchase some land with any leftover winnings, received $136,001 after taxes were withheld. She purchased her winning ticket at the Piggly Wiggly on Washington Street in Williamston.

Hurdle’s Extreme Green prize is the largest scratch-off win in Martin County history. As of Monday morning, four $200,000 top prizes remain to be claimed in the game.

Since the lottery began through June 30 of this year, Martin County education programs received more than $5.4 million in lottery funds. By law, those funds pay for teachers’ salaries in grades K-3, school construction, need-based college scholarships and prekindergarten programs. Players in Martin County have won more than $14.8 million in prizes since the lottery’s inception.

To date, the N.C. Education Lottery has raised more than $2.1 billion for these initiatives statewide.