Juana Reyes Hernandez of Raleigh scored a $1 million prize after trying her luck on a $10,000,000 Colossal Cash scratch-off.
Hernandez, who works as a cook for a local restaurant, purchased her winning ticket from the Honest Grocery on Falls of Neuse Road in Raleigh.
She took her lucky ticket home where she scratched it off. “I couldn’t believe it,” she recalled. “I was excited, of course.”
Hernandez claimed her prize Wednesday at lottery headquarters in Raleigh. She 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 lump sum and, after required federal and state tax withholdings, took home $424,509.
Hernandez plans to purchase her first house and put the rest into savings. “We have one daughter that’s 3 years old so I’m thinking of her, too,” she said.
The $10,000,000 Colossal Cash game launched in August 2018 with four top prizes of $10 million and 16 prizes of $1 million. One $10 million top prize and two $1 million prizes remain to be won.
Ticket sales from scratch-off games make it possible for the lottery to raise more than $725 million a year for education. For details on how $62.6 million raised by the lottery made a difference in Wake County in 2019, visit www.nclottery.com and click on the “Impact” section.
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