Mom’s screams wake kids in middle of night when she realizes she won NC lottery prize

A lottery player woke up in the middle of the night to check a recent North Carolina drawing, then she “jumped up and started screaming.”

Marlene Hutchins won the top prize of $100,000 in the July 9 Cash 5 drawing, the North Carolina Education Lottery said in a July 12 news release.

But the win nearly didn’t happen.

The Greenville mom “almost missed” the deadline for the drawing, which cuts off at 10:58 p.m. for online purchases, according to the N.C. Education Lottery. She bought her drawing at 10:49 p.m. with less than 10 minutes to spare.

Then she went to bed while the drawing happened.

Later in the night, Hutchins woke up to check her numbers, and that’s when she started yelling.

“I even woke up my kids,” she told lottery officials.

She matched all five numbers to win the Cash 5 jackpot, beating the 1-in-962,598 odds, according to the N.C. Education Lottery.

She said the win hadn’t sunk in yet.

“It’s like I’m going to wake up any minute,” Hutchins told lottery officials. “It doesn’t even feel real.”

With the windfall, which amounts to $71,500 after tax, she said she plans to buy her daughter a car and take care of some bills.

Greenville is in Pitt County, about an 85-mile drive southeast from Raleigh.