RALEIGH – For the second time in six months, the same store in the small town of Whiteville has sold a big-winning lottery ticket. Hill’s Food Store on JK Boulevard sold the ticket that matched four white balls and the Mega Ball in Friday’s drawing. Because it was a $2 Megaplier ticket and the Megaplier was two, it is worth $20,000.

The ticketholder has already come forward to claim the prize money. Christina Grice of Chadbourn said she felt “excited” Monday morning as she collected her winnings at the lottery’s claim center in Wilmington.

Last summer, a Whiteville couple won a $248,982 Carolina Cash 5 jackpot on a ticket purchased at the same store. Lottie and Sylvia Williams’ ticket was the only one to match all five numbers in the Saturday, Aug. 13 drawing.

“As always, we like to congratulate the winner and thank them for choosing to shop with us to buy their tickets,” said store manager Edward Ward.

Since the lottery began through June 30 of last year, Columbus County players won more than $23.9 million in prizes and local retailers earned more than $2.9 million in commissions on ticket sales.

During the same time frame, Columbus County education programs received more than $15.2 million in lottery funds. By law, those funds pay for teachers’ salaries, school construction, need-based college scholarships and at-risk prekindergarten programs.

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