Chasta Buff of Vale sat in her truck on Saturday scratching a $5 lottery ticket when she realized she just uncovered a $200,000 top prize.

“It just didn’t seem real,” she recalled. “It still doesn’t.”

Buff wanted to make sure the Mega Bucks ticket was real so she walked back into Vale Mart & Hardware on North N.C.18 in Vale, the store where she bought her ticket. She scanned her ticket and confirmed her big win.

“For us, this is life-changing,” she said. “We really needed this.”

Buff said she already knows how she will spend her winnings.

“We can finally look at buying a house now,” Buff said.

She collected her prize at lottery headquarters Tuesday and, after required state and federal tax withholdings, took home $143,001.

Mega Bucks debuted in August with nine $200,000 top prizes. Seven $200,000 prizes remain to be claimed.

For details on how $5.1 million raised by the lottery made a difference for Lincoln County education programs last year, visit www.nclottery.com and click on the “Impact” section.