Lucky lottery ticket bought on St. Patrick’s Day wins North Carolina woman top prize
.jpeg "A North Carolina woman won half of a lottery jackpot prize on a ticket she purchased on St. Patrick’s Day.")
A North Carolina woman was getting ready for work when she realized she won part of a top lottery prize.
Rhonda Davis of Burlington purchased a Carolina Cash 5 ticket for $1 online on St. Patrick’s Day for a drawing later that night, according to a Thursday news release from the North Carolina Education Lottery.
She said she woke up at 5 a.m. the next day to an email from lottery officials, but she didn’t open it.
Later that morning, she opened the email while getting ready for her job as a warehouse lead and realized she had won half of the $1.6 million jackpot, the lottery release says.
“I just sat there stunned like, ‘Is this for real?’” she told lottery officials. “I had to pull myself together and I actually went to work that day!”
Davis took home $583,093 after taxes, the lottery says. Barbara Gullatt of Raleigh won the other half of the prize.
“Both tickets matched all five white balls in the March 17 drawing,” the lottery says.
Davis told lottery officials she plans to use the money for home renovations and to “help out a couple of people.”
Carolina Cash 5 drawings are held every night, and the jackpot on Thursday is $592,000.
“The odds of winning a Cash 5 jackpot are 1 in 962,598,” the lottery says.
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