As Melinda Murphy of Rockingham sat at home Wednesday night playing digital instant games, her life changed in an instant when she hit a $1.4 million jackpot.
“I was shaking and crying,” she recalled. “This is literally the biggest blessing you can ever imagine.”
Murphy said she almost didn’t see that she won at first.
“I wasn’t even paying close attention but out of my peripheral vision I saw stuff happening on the screen,” she laughed. “I was like, ‘This can’t be real.’”
Murphy wagered 50 cents and won the top level ‘Epic jackpot’ in the Bison Bonanza game. The digital instant game features a progressive jackpot that can be won any time. The odds of that win are 1 in 62 million.
“I was in disbelief,” Murphy said. “I still kind of am.”
She claimed her prize Friday at lottery headquarters and, after required federal and state tax withholdings, took home $1.01 million.
“It’s kind of surreal right now,” Murphy said.
She plans to use her winnings to pay bills, invest, and possibly buy a new Honda Passport.
In the Bison Bonanza digital instant game, a player can play from 50 cents to $30. After Murphy won the jackpot, it restarted at $50,000 and has grown to over $137,000 as of Monday morning.
Digital instant games are played exclusively online on the lottery’s website or on the NC Lottery Official Mobile App. Sixty-two different games are available to play online now.
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