Eunice Brown of Council said she ‘had to come back down to earth’ after her $30 scratch-off purchase landed her a $1 million prize.
“I thought I was going to faint,” Brown laughed. “I really did feel numb.”
Brown bought her lucky $30 Millionaire Maker ticket from Home Race Mart on Old U.S. 74/76 in Lake Waccamaw. She called her son right away to tell him the news.
“My son said, ‘I don’t mean no disrespect, but you’re lying,’” she recalled. “I had to send him a picture to convince him.”
Brown got lucky once before at the same store about a year ago when she won $5,000 on a scratch-off ticket. She said she had more trouble processing her $1 million win.
“I looked at the ticket and didn’t believe it,” she said. “Like I could see it, but just couldn’t believe it.”
When Brown arrived at lottery headquarters Monday, she had a decision to make. She could choose to receive the prize as an annuity of $50,000 over 20 years or a lump sum of $600,000. She chose the lump-sum amount of $600,000 and, after required state and federal tax withholdings, took home $427,509.
She said she will use the winnings to pay bills and share some with her family.
Ticket sales from scratch-off games make it possible for the lottery to raise $2.5 million a day on average for education. Bladen County has received $40 million in grants, from money raised by the lottery, to build a new Pre-K-8 school. For details on other ways money raised by the lottery made a difference in Bladen County, visit www.nclottery.com and click on the “Impact” section.
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