Melanie Bacchus of Fayetteville is the first player to take home a $1 million top prize in the new $1,000,000 Bonus Cash scratch-off game.

Bacchus, a salon owner, was shopping for a book when she stopped to try her luck with four lottery tickets at the Boulevard Amoco Food Shop on Bragg Boulevard in Fayetteville. After two of the tickets produced $50 and $100 wins respectively, Bacchus went back – this time to purchase a $10 $1,000,000 Bonus Cash ticket. When she returned home and scratched the ticket, what she saw left her momentarily speechless.

“We won,” Bacchus told her fiancée.

“Yeah right,” he replied. “You always say that.”

But when she showed him the ticket, he realized she wasn’t joking.

“We jumped for joy,” Bacchus said.

Bacchus and her fiancée were all laughs as they claimed her prize Monday at lottery headquarters in Raleigh. She had the choice of taking a $1 million annuity that has 20 payments of $50,000 a year or a lump sum of $600,000. Bacchus chose the lump sum and after required state and federal tax withholdings received $415,503.

She plans to use the winnings to pay off bills, invest in her salon and possibly buy a house.

$1,000,000 Bonus Cash launched this month with four top prizes of $1 million. Three remain unclaimed.

Ticket sales from games like $1,000,000 Bonus Cash made it possible for the lottery to raise more than $600 million dollars for the state last year. For details on how more than $155 million in lottery funds has made a difference in Cumberland County, click on the “For Education” section of the lottery’s website.