Weekly lotto ticket buyer wins $1 million in North Carolina

A North Carolina woman won a $1 million prize after buying her weekly lotto ticket.

Conway, N.C., resident Sabrina Bottoms buys gas every Sunday night, along with a scratch-off.

“I fill up and get one ticket every week,” she told the N.C. Education Lottery Commission.

On a recent Sunday, she plunked down $10 for a recently introduced game called Hamilton.

Bottoms scratched the ticket and could not believe her eyes. She had won the first $1 million prize in the game, which has had just four winners total so far.

“I couldn’t believe I won,” Bottoms told the commission. She called her cousin just to make sure.

“I had to get someone else to check the ticket,” she added.

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Bottoms did not let the ticket out of her sight until she showed up at state lottery headquarters on Monday.

“The ticket went everywhere I went,” she said. “Even to the bathroom and to sleep.”

She opted for a $600,000 lump sum rather than annual payments of $50,000 over 20 years, netting $426,063 after taxes.

While it’s hardly the $300 million Powerball jackpot up for grabs in Wednesday’s drawing, Bottoms’ winnings are enough to enable her to buy her dream home.

Three more $1 million prizes are still out there in Hamilton, which debuted this month, the commission said.