A woman in North Carolina scored a "life-saving" prize from a newly-launched lottery game after seeing the new ticket.
Kelly Spahr, of Kernersville, recently had a craving for orange juice so she stopped by the Quality Mart on Piney Grove Road. While she was there, she purchased a $20 ticket for the Merry Multiplier game that launched last week, a booklet that has five scratch-off tickets, according to a release from the NC Education Lottery.
"When I was at the gas station I saw that there were new tickets out so I decided to try them," she said. "The ticket has a folding part on it which is what sold me on it."
When she scratched off her ticket, she learned that she scored the first of the game's top $250,000 prizes.
"This just opened up some more doors for us," she said, adding, "It's nice to know that big wins like this really do happen."
Spahr claimed her prize at lottery headquarters last week, taking home an impressive $178,756 after all required state and federal tax withholdings. While she didn't share her plans for what she wants to use her winnings for, she told lottery officials that the funds will help her family.
"It's a life-changing amount of money for us," she said. "It really helps us out a lot."
Following Spahr's win, two top prizes of $250,000 remain to be claimed in the Merry Multiplier.