Wake County school bus driver hits NC lottery jackpot. ‘I still don’t believe it’
A Wake County school bus driver tried her luck on the lottery — and won a big prize.
Katrice Evans was on a grocery run when she bought a progressive jackpot ticket worth $127,063, the N.C. Education Lottery said Thursday in a news release.
“I still don’t believe it,” Evans told officials when she claimed her prize.
Evans’ good luck started with a trip to the Food Lion supermarket in Angier, roughly 20 miles south of Raleigh. That’s where officials said she spent $5 on a ticket for the Fast Play game.
It turns out, her ticket beat 1-in-240,000 odds to win half of the jackpot prize.
Evans, a Willow Springs resident who has worked as a bus driver for more than two decades, kept $89,899 after taxes. Officials said she will put the prize money toward a car loan and a new place to live.
“I was planning to get a new home anyway, so this makes it a bit better,” Evans told the N.C. Education Lottery.
It’s not the first time a North Carolina transportation worker has gotten a big windfall.
In December, a Davidson County truck driver scored a $25,000 per year prize, McClatchy News reported.
Two months earlier, a Sampson County school bus driver checked her scratch-off ticket on the roadside and discovered she won big.
BEHIND THE STORY
MOREWhen gambling is more than a game
Gambling is designed to be a source of entertainment.
If you or a loved one shows signs of gambling addiction, you can seek help by calling the national gambling hotline at 1-800-522-4700 or visiting the National Council on Problem Gambling website.
This story was originally published February 18, 2021 at 10:26 AM.
