‘That ticket caught my eye.’ Woman wins NC lottery after buying ticket on a whim

Big lottery wins are always shocking, but one western North Carolina woman says she “couldn’t even drive” home after discovering her ticket was worth $250,000.

Angela McClellan of Marion was parked outside a store when she scratched off all the numbers on her Gold Rush lottery ticket, according to a release from the N.C. Education Lottery. Marion is about 36 miles northeast of Asheville.

“I couldn’t believe it,” McClellan said. “I was just amazed. I couldn’t even drive afterwards. I had to get a second look at it because I didn’t have my glasses on!”

She’d won the top prize in the game, beating odds of 1 in 1.2 million, according to the lottery’s website.

McClellan picked up her money Tuesday at the lottery headquarters in Raleigh, and it came to $176,876 after federal and state taxes, officials said.

When asked what prompted her buy the $5 ticket, McClellan had an unexpected response: “That ticket caught my eye for some reason.”

She bought the ticket at Samirs, a convenience store on Sugar Hill Road in Marion, officials said.

McClellan says she plans to pay a lot of bills and use some of the cash to help relatives, the release said.

“It hasn’t sunk in yet, but it will,” she said.

The $250,000 Gold Rush game launched in August 2020 with seven top prizes of $250,000. McClellan won the last one, which means the game will soon end, officials said.

This story was originally published May 13, 2021 at 11:50 AM with the headline "‘That ticket caught my eye.’ Woman wins NC lottery after buying ticket on a whim."