Veronica DeVane, a bus driver and cafeteria worker for Sampson County Schools, says her $200,000 Bonus Bucks win will change her life.

“I don’t usually play the lottery but that one day I stopped and had $10 extra and I said, ‘I’m gonna buy two tickets,’” she recalled. “And I won $200,000.”

On Sunday, DeVane, of Ivanhoe, purchased two $5 Bonus Bucks tickets from the West Service Center on Delway Highway in Rose Hill.

“I had a friend in the car with me and she scratched it off, but she didn’t scratch the main game,” she recalled. “So, when I got to 421 before I turned off, I just stopped on the side of the road and I scratched it off. I was shocked and got outside of my car and I was just shouting. That’s a great feeling there.”

DeVane claimed her prize Tuesday at lottery headquarters in Raleigh. After required federal and state tax withholdings, she took home $141,501.

“It’s gonna change my life,” said DeVane. “There’s a lot of things I want to do and I’m gonna be able to do them now. I’ll renovate my house and my granddaughter is getting ready to go off to college and maybe I can do a little something for her.”

Bonus Bucks launched in June with six top prizes of $200,000. One top prize remains to be won.

Ticket sales from scratch-offs make it possible for the lottery to raise more than $725 million a year for education. For details on how $4.6 million raised by the lottery made a difference in Sampson County in 2019, visit www.nclottery.com and click on the “Impact” section.