Sue Manchester of Chapel Hill said a text message led her to a $1 million lottery prize.
“My coworker texted during my lunch break on Friday to ask me to pick up a Red Bull,” said Manchester, an estimator for an electrical contract company.
Manchester went to her normal place to get gas but said it was, ‘too busy.’ Instead, she stopped at the Eagles on U.S. 15-501 North in Chapel Hill and bought a Colossal Cash scratch-off ticket.
“I grabbed the Red Bull and then noticed I had a $20 and a $10 bill,” Manchester said. “I decided to get one of the tickets since my coworker has been winning on it recently.”
She took the ticket back to her office and scratched it.
“I saw the symbol and was like, ‘No. This doesn’t happen.’” Manchester said. “I showed the same coworker and he said, ‘Sue you just won $1 million’. I still didn’t believe it. It’s very serendipitous. Especially since I rarely get scratch-off tickets.”
Manchester claimed her prize Wednesday at lotter headquarters in Raleigh. She had the choice of taking an annuity that has 20 payments of $50,000 a year or a lump sum of $600,000. She chose the lump sum. After required state and federal tax withholdings, she took home $423,010. She plans to use some of the money to pay off her car.
Manchester is the first player to win a big prize playing Colossal Cash. The $30 ticket launched earlier this month with four top prizes of $10 million and 16 prizes of $1 million. All top prizes and 15 $1 million prizes remain. Players can also enter their Colossal Cash tickets into one of five second-chance drawings for a $1 million prize.
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