RALEIGH – Peggy Barbour, a retired hairdresser from Bunnlevel, won $100,000 playing the Mega Bucks game on Monday. She said it was the first time she had ever purchased lottery tickets.

Barbour made her lucky purchase from a lottery vending machine at Carlie C’s IGA on South 13th Street in Erwin.

“I decided to play a few tickets and only spent $20 total,” Barbour said. “I won $65 on the first few, but decided to try one more game. I put $5 into the vending machine and picked one at random. I didn’t really know what I had won, but I thought it could be $1,000, which felt great.”

Barbour then took her $5 ticket to a clerk to verify. The clerk said she needed to claim her prize at lottery headquarters and handed the ticket back to her.

“When she gave it back to me, I thought there was something wrong with the ticket,” Barbour said. “I looked at it again and saw the extra zeroes. Then I couldn’t move or talk or anything. I just stood there in shock.”

After state and federal taxes were withheld, Barbour received a check for $69,201. She said she plans to use her winnings to pay bills and maybe go on a vacation.

“This is a good feeling,” Barbour said as she collected her winnings. “I’m very grateful.”

As of Tuesday afternoon, three $100,000 top prizes remain to be claimed in the Mega Bucks game.

As of December 2013, the lottery has raised more than $3.19 billion to benefit education programs. Lottery dollars support teachers’ salaries in grades K-3, school construction and repair projects, prekindergarten programs for at-risk four-year-olds, need-based college scholarships and financial aid and digital learning initiatives.

To see how more than $34.3 million in lottery dollars have made a difference in Harnett County, go to the Where the Money Goes webpage at http://www.nc-educationlottery.org/beneficiary.aspx.