Marcia Finney of Shelby planned to buy some gas and potato chips, but when her usual store was closed she found another up the road, added a scratch-off ticket, and won a $100,000 prize.
“I wasn’t even supposed to be at that store,” Finney said.
Finney, a 44-year-old assistant general manager at Pizza Hut, said she had to double-check her $25 Spectacular Riches ticket because she couldn’t believe her eyes.
“When I saw all those zeroes, I had to wipe my eyes and look again,” she said. “I kept saying, ‘This is not real, it’s not real.’”
Finney said it took her some time for the win to sink in.
“I just kept sitting there staring at it,” she said. “I was in shock.”
Finney bought her lucky ticket at Mike’s Food Store on Earl Road in Shelby. She collected her prize Monday at lottery headquarters and, after required state and federal tax withholdings, took home $71,017.
“I’ve been looking for somewhere to live for like two years,” Finney said. “Now I can have a place of my own.”
The Spectacular Riches game debuted in October with eight top prizes of $1 million and 20 $100,000 prizes. Three $1 million prizes and eight $100,000 prizes remain to be claimed.
Ticket sales from scratch-off games make it possible for the lottery to raise more than $2.5 million a day on average for education. The state has provided $22.8 million in grants, using money raised by the lottery, to help Cleveland County with school construction. For details on other ways Cleveland County benefits from lottery funds, visit www.nclottery.com and click on the “Impact” section.
Login to leave a comment.