Linda Mabry of Jamestown stopped to try her luck on a new Black Diamond 7s ticket and won its first $200,000 top prize.

“I stopped like I always do after work because I wanted to get the new tickets that was out,” she said. “Every month when the new ones come out I just like to try them.”

Mabry, who works as a benefits administrator, purchased her winning $5 ticket from the Quick Mart on West Main Street in Jamestown on Thursday.

At home later that night, she scratched the tickets.

“I kind of looked and I said, ‘Is this a winner?’” recalled Mabry of realizing she won a top prize. “And then I got my cell phone and took a picture of it to make sure I was seeing it right and after that I went to bed!”

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

“Just help pad my retirement when I retire in about three years,” said Mabry of her plans for the prize money. “I’ll pay off a few bills I’ve got and then put the rest away for retirement.”

Black Diamond 7s launched in November with five top prizes of $200,000. Four top prizes remain 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 lottery funds have helped all of North Carolina’s 100 counties, click on the “Impact” section of the lottery’s website.