A $100,000 lottery win provided all the Fourth of July fireworks Charlotte’s Frances Gary needed.

For Gary, a retired hospital worker, a family cookout in Marshville was only the beginning of Monday’s holiday festivities. On the way home, she stopped by the Speedway on Chamber Drive in Monroe and bought three lottery tickets. She scratched the first one in the car, but didn’t win. But when a family member scratched the second – a $5 Mega Bucks ticket – Gary couldn’t believe what she heard next.

“You know you won $100,000, right?” the family member asked.

“Give me that ticket,” Gary said.

She looked at the ticket and the $100,000 win in front of her confirmed her good luck.

When it was time for the fireworks, Gary said she’d already had her fill. “I didn’t even want to look at them,” she said.

Gary claimed her prize Tuesday at lottery headquarters in Raleigh. She doesn’t have any specific plans for her after-tax winnings of $69,251, but said she’ll “do something smart.”

Ticket sales from games like Mega Bucks made it possible for the lottery to raise more than half a billion dollars for the state last year. For details on how more than $352.5 million in lottery funds has made a difference in Mecklenburg County, click on the “For Education” section of the lottery’s website.