‘Lucky numbers’ from grandma scored this North Carolina woman a big lottery win
A woman played her late grandmother’s numbers in the lottery — and won big time in North Carolina.
Maria Moreno hit the jackpot after those same numbers were pulled in a drawing for the Carolina Cash 5 game, the N.C. Education Lottery said Monday in a news release.
“She gave me the good luck,” Moreno said of her grandmother, who died two years ago. “I would take care of her and take her to the appointments and all that stuff. And one lady told me, ‘Now she’s blessing you, she’s taking care of you.’”
Moreno’s journey toward scoring the prize started at Best Bet, a convenience store in the town of Newton Grove, roughly 45 miles south of Raleigh. That’s where officials said she tried her luck on a $1 ticket for the Carolina Cash 5 game.
It turns out, Moreno won much more. The N.C. Education Lottery said the ticket she bought with her grandmother’s picks matched enough numbers to win half of the $362,242 grand prize.
“I have three kids and they all want their own rooms, so I’ll probably buy a house,” said Moreno, who lives in Sampson County.
She splits the jackpot with Timothy Chandler, who bought his ticket online. He’s from Lexington, a city in Davidson County, roughly 20 miles south of Winston-Salem, according to the N.C. Education Lottery.
“I was really glad to hear that someone else won besides me,” Chandler said in a news release. “I was always hoping that if I win, somebody else wins, too.”
With his windfall, Chandler told officials he plans to “share some and spend some and save some.”
Both Chandler and Moreno beat odds of almost 1-in-a million to win a Cash 5 jackpot prize. The players each kept about $128,000 after taxes, according to the lottery.
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This story was originally published January 25, 2021 at 4:09 PM with the headline "‘Lucky numbers’ from grandma scored this North Carolina woman a big lottery win."
