RALEIGH – On Friday afternoon, Sharon Price of Goldsboro became the fourth player to claim the top prize in the $100,000 Crossword game. She purchased the lucky ticket at the Kangaroo Express on Wayne Memorial Drive in Goldsboro.

Price received a check worth $68,001 after taxes were withheld. As of Monday afternoon, one more top prize remains to be claimed in the $100,000 Crossword game.

Since the lottery began, North Carolina has received more than $2.9 billion to support education programs. The lottery completed its seventh straight year of record sales and record earnings for the state on June 30, 2013, recording a 5.8 percent increase in sales and an estimated 4 percent increase in earnings. Lottery dollars support teachers’ salaries in grades K-3, school construction and repair projects, prekindergarten programs for at-risk four-year-olds, and college scholarships and financial aid based on need. To see how more than $36.2 million in lottery dollars have made a difference in Wayne County, go to the Where the Money Goes webpage at http://www.nc-educationlottery.org/beneficiary.aspx.