RALEIGH – Mamie Bynum, a retired clerical supervisor from Huntersville, plans to use the $1 million prize she won playing The Color of Money game to buy a car, save for her grandchildren’s education and help fund her retirement.

Bynum scratched off the lucky ticket while sitting in her car outside the Food Lion on North Graham Street in Charlotte.

“I scratched it off and said to myself ‘I just won a million dollars’,” Bynum said of the moment she realized she’d won the $10 game’s top prize.

Winners of $1 million in the game have the option of claiming it in $50,000 payments as a 20-year annuity or a one-time lump sum. Bynum took the annuity option and received an initial after-tax payment of $34,603. She will receive an annual payment for the next 19 years.

As of Friday afternoon, one more $1 million top prize remains to be claimed in the game.

Ticket sales have made it possible for the lottery to raise more than $3.4 billion for the state. North Carolina Education Lottery net proceeds will be used this year to help pay salaries of teachers and teacher assistants, for pre-kindergarten programs for at-risk four-year-olds, school construction and repair, and need-based college scholarships and financial aid.

For details on how more than $60 million in lottery funds have made a difference in Cabarrus County, click on the “Where the Money Goes” tab on the lottery’s website.