Laniah Ashley, a UNC Wilmington student from Clinton, played the lottery for the first time on her 19th birthday and won a gift of $100,000.
“I kept looking at the numbers and reading the rules over and over again,” Ashely said. “I was too stunned to speak.”
Ashley, a first-year student, came home this week for spring break. She turned 19 on Wednesday, so she celebrated her birthday with her grandparents at a Chinese restaurant. After dinner, she stopped by the Han-Dee Hugo’s on Southeast Boulevard in Clinton and purchased a $20 100X The Cash scratch-off.
“It was my first time ever buying a ticket,” Ashley said. “I thought the colors on the ticket looked pretty so I chose that one."
Ashely said she went back to her grandparents’ house to scratch the ticket. They were all sitting together at the table when she realized she won.
“At first I kept it to myself because I didn’t want to sound crazy,” Ashley said. “I was too excited to believe it was true.”
Ashley arrived at lottery headquarters Thursday to collect her prize and, after required state and federal tax withholdings, took home $71,016.
Ashley, a biology major who plans to attend medical school, said she wants to put some money toward paying for school and help out her grandparents as well.
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