Woman Wins $1 Million Prize After Buying a Lottery Ticket Every Week: 'I Couldn't Believe I Won'

Weekly gas stop leads to $1 million win for Northampton County woman
Weekly gas stop leads to $1 million win for Northampton County woman

North Carolina Education Lottery North Carolina Education Lottery

A North Carolina woman's weekly scratch-off routine finally paid off big time.

Sabrina Bottoms, a warehouse worker from Conway, bought the winning $1 million ticket Sunday night after a routine visit to the Park N Shop gas stop, the NC Education Lottery said in a release published on Tuesday.

"I couldn't believe I won," Bottoms told lottery officials. "I fill up and get one ticket every week."

The ticket, which helps fund education initiatives for students in North Carolina, cost Bottom a total of $10.

According to the lottery, she immediately called her cousin after scratching her ticket in the car. "I had to get someone else to check the ticket," she said.

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After confirming her good news, the woman didn't let the winning ticket out of her sight.

"The ticket went everywhere I went," she said, per the release. "Even to the bathroom and to sleep."

On Monday, Bottoms — who hopes to use the money to buy her "dream home" — chose to claim her prize in a lump sum of $600,000 (her other option was to receive $50,000 payments over the next 20 years). Taking taxes into consideration, Bottoms took home $426,063.

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This is the first $1 million prize claim out of four possible Hamilton tickets, according to lottery officials — which means three are still up for grabs.

According to the lottery, more than $2.5 million is raised daily from ticket sales.

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Earlier this month, two winners in Illinois came forward to claim the $1.3 billion Mega Millions jackpot.

The sum will be split between two people who had agreed to do so and have "stayed true to that word," Illinois Lottery said.

According to the Illinois Lottery, the winners have been working with professional legal and financial advisors over the past few weeks and have decided to take the "lump sum payment of $780.5 million."