Teresa Saunders of Rolesville still can’t believe her luck after finding out she had won $1 million in the first Millionaire Maker Second-Chance drawing.
“I’m so excited, I don’t believe it,” she recalled. “I’m just so thrilled and I’m speechless.”
The thrill began with a phone call Wednesday afternoon as Saunders was at Party City, shopping for her granddaughter’s Sweet 16 birthday party the next day.
“I started crying in the store!” she said. “All I thought was, ‘I have to get to my car right now!’”
Her entry was chosen from over 1,319,154 entries in Wednesday’s Millionaire Maker second-chance drawing. Winners of second-chance drawings receive a phone call or email notifying them that they won.
“You know, I’ve always said, ‘the only way I’ll ever be a millionaire is if I won the lottery!’” said Saunders. “So, I went home, I fixed me a glass of champagne, and I sat down on the porch. I think I sat there until about 9:30 last night!”
Saunders claimed her prize Thursday at lottery headquarters in Raleigh. Saunders had the choice of taking the $1 million as an annuity of 20 payments of $50,000 a year or a lump sum of $600,000. She chose the $600,000 lump sum and after required state and federal tax withholdings, took home $424,500.
Saunders, a retired literacy coach with the Wake County Public School System, said she plans to take a trip to Jackson Hole, Wyoming, live a comfortable retirement, and help her children and grandchildren have a good life.
“It’s a comfortable feeling,” she said.
Two more Millionaire Maker second-chance drawings remain. Each drawing offers one $1 million grand prize, one $100,000 prize, and 20 $500 prizes. To enter the next drawing, enter your Millionaire Maker tickets via the lottery’s website or scan the ticket’s bar code using the NC Lottery Official Mobile App, like Saunders did.
Ticket sales from scratch-off games like Millionaire Maker make it possible for the lottery to raise more than $725 million per year for education. For details on how $62.8 million raised by the lottery made a difference in Wake County in 2020, visit www.nclottery.com and click on the “Impact” section.