RALEIGH – Gail Bennett, a resident of Charlotte, plans to use the $125,000 she won playing the $125,000 Casino Cash game to make repairs to her home and pay bills.

Bennett was at home when she scratched off the game’s top prize.

“I thought I must be tired or something,” she said. “It was like my eyes weren’t working.”

After taxes were withheld, Bennett received a check for $85,001. She purchased her winning ticket at the Xpress Shop on Back Creek Drive in Charlotte.

“You don’t think it will happen to you,” Bennett added. “But here I am. I’m happy. Very happy.”

As of Thursday, one top prize remains to be claimed in the $125,000 Casino Cash game.

Since the lottery began through June 30 of 2011, Mecklenburg County education programs received more than $167.3 million in lottery funds. By law, those funds pay for teachers’ salaries, school construction, need-based college scholarships and prekindergarten programs.

To date, the N.C. Education Lottery has raised more than $2.2 billion for these initiatives statewide.