Jenifer Skelton of Cleveland, Ga, a tradition of playing scratch-offs to pass the time during a road trip resulted in a $100,000 lottery prize.
Skelton, who makes and sells homemade candles, started her lottery road trip on the way home from a craft fair.
“We literally stop to get scratch-off tickets at every gas station on our side of the freeway,” Skelton said. “It’s an hour-and-a-half drive home, so it gives us something to do on the way. We play as long as we keep winning. Once we don’t, we stop.”
Skelton’s winning stop ended up being the Dowdle Mountain Pit Stop on Dowdle Mountain Road in Franklin. There she decided to buy The BIG SPIN scratch-off ticket.
“I’m so used to winning $5 or $10 that I honestly don’t know what I thought when I won,” Skelton said. “I’m still in disbelief. It doesn’t feel real.”
Instead of driving home, Skelton drove east across North Carolina to lottery headquarters in Raleigh to claim her prize. After required state and federal tax withholdings, she took home $70,751. The grandmother of two said she plans to use the money to help pay off her house and take care of her grandbabies.
The $5 scratch-off ticket launched in October. Players can win instant prizes up to $100,000 prize, or they could win a spin on the BIG SPIN prize wheel. Players who spin the wheel are guaranteed to win $100,000 but could win up to $500,000.
Ticket sales from games like The BIG SPIN make it possible for the lottery to raise more than $700 million a year for education. For details on how lottery funds have made a difference in all of North Carolina’s 100 counties, click on the “Impact” section of the lottery’s website.
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