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$161,294 Updated: Tuesday, 12:51:28 AM
news blog > article

Gaston County caregiver to use $1 million prize to pay daughter’s student loans

November 19, 2020 Posted by NC Lottery at 8:41 AM
image-photo

After getting off of work on Tuesday, “something” told Selena Wallace of Cherryville to stop and try her luck on a lottery ticket. That ticket ended up winning her the last $1 million Holiday Countdown top prize.

Wallace, a personal care assistant, purchased her winning $20 ticket from the Murphy USA on Lincolnton Highway in Cherryville.

“It was like something was telling me to go buy a ticket,” recalled Wallace. “I got the ticket and I put it in my purse.”

Once back home, Wallace started cooking dinner, her “famous chicken alfredo”, and remembered her ticket.

“I got to scratching the ticket and I saw two holidays and it had $1 million dollars,” she said. “I kept looking and I said, ‘No, that don’t seem right.’ I felt like I was having a heart attack! I just couldn’t believe it.”

Wallace 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 took home $424,506 after required state and federal tax withholdings.

“I’m able to pay my daughter’s student loans off,” said Wallace of her plans for the prize money. “That was one of the major things I was worried about.”

Wallace also plans to use her winnings to care for her parents and buy a new house for herself. The rest, she said, will go into savings.

Holiday Countdown launched this month with three top prizes of $1 million. Wallace won the last top prize so the lottery will begin steps to end the game.


11 COMMENTS

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11/21/2020 12:31 - Denver G.

Hey LZ, please lets us know ASAP. I am sure I am not the only one trying to strategize the best options for this/these 2nd chance holiday contest.

11/20/2020 02:28 - Heather L.

@TATIANA D~I hope they do.

11/20/2020 10:35 - Mary H.

Congratulations :)

11/20/2020 09:51 - Denver G.

Good morning LZ. All the top prizes are gone on the $20 tic & now the $5 tic. Are you even going to have both 2nd chance drawings as scheduled ??? The 1,2,and $3 tickets are not much of an appealing a purchase to a lot of players.NC Lottery
Hi Denver, great question! We are working on releasing an update to the Holiday Second Chance opportunity soon. We hope you like the changes we have in store!

11/20/2020 07:48 - victoria a.

If you are on vacation overseas can you play the Powerball. NC Lottery
Hi Victoria. Good Question. You must be physically located in North Carolina at the time that you make a deposit or purchase via our online play option. (Note: All purchases and deposits must be made within North Carolina's borders and will be checked with geo location technologies.)

11/20/2020 12:35 - Tatiana D.

Wow, the game barely started, and all top prizes are gone already. NCEL, maybe you can reissue the game? It is definitely fun to play, and 2nd chance drawing is a great bonus.

11/19/2020 03:00 - Casselle W.

HO! HO! HO! WHAT A WONDERFUL CHRISTMAS PRESENT. IT WAS MEANT FOR YOU. KEEP ON WINNING.

11/19/2020 01:12 - Denver G.

Players have been coming on here a lot and saying only the big winners are in big cities. MOST of the big winners this month have NOT been from big cities at all. Far from it. Cherryville, Taylorsville, Creswell to name a few, and a bunch more.

11/19/2020 12:19 - Gloria C.

Congratulations to you and I wish you many more wonderful wins.

11/19/2020 10:06 - Heather L.

Why pull this scratch off just because all the top prizes have been won? It’d be fantastic to win one of the top prizes, but I would be happy even winning the second or third prize, although I could be the only one who thinks that. NC Lottery
Hi Heather, it's our standard practice to remove all tickets from circulation once that game's top prizes have all been won. While our sales team is in the process of picking up all remaining tickets from the more than 7,000 retailer locations across the state, the games are still available for purchase.

11/19/2020 08:52 - Denver G.

Happy for you, congrats. HAPPY HOLIDAZE !!!!

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