Deborah Sexton of Davidson had a hard time believing a $5 Mega Millions ticket won her a $2 million prize.
“I was like, ‘How can this be happening to me?” Sexton recalled. “It was overwhelming. I was just like, ‘This can’t be.’”
She had the only ticket nationally to match all five white balls in Friday’s drawing.
Sexton bought her Quick Pick ticket from the Harris Teeter on Peninsula Drive in Davidson. Her ticket matched all five white balls to win $1 million and then doubled to $2 million when the 2X Megaplier hit. The odds of that win are 1 in 12.6 million.
“I was going to just buy Powerball tickets but my husband said I should buy some Mega Millions too, so I have to give him some credit,” Sexton laughed.
Sexton said she had not bought lottery tickets for a long time.
“We probably haven’t bought any since last year, but we saw the Powerball jackpot was over $700 million so we decided to buy some,” Sexton said.
She arrived at lottery headquarters Monday to claim her prize and, after required federal and state tax withholdings, took home $1,435,001.
Sexton plans to use some of her winnings to travel to Maine to visit family.
The jackpot for Tuesday’s Mega Millions drawing is $253 million as an annuity, or $113.8 million in cash. The odds of winning a Mega Millions jackpot are 1 in 290 million.
Mega Millions is one of six lottery games in North Carolina where players can buy tickets at a retail location or with Online Play through the lottery website or the NC Lottery Official Mobile App.
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