‘I just started shouting,’ woman says after routine change ends with NC lottery win
A Guilford County woman got lucky after making a last-minute decision to switch up her routine for buying North Carolina lottery tickets.
Barbara Johnson of Gibsonville says she actually went cheaper that day, buying a $5 ticket in the 20X The Cash game at the Quick N Easy on Burlington Road in Greensboro, the North Carolina Education Lottery said in a news release.
“I usually buy the $10 tickets, but something told me to buy the $5 ones this time,” she said in the release.
“I got home and scratched it off, which I do as soon as I get home. I saw the prize and I just started shouting and thanking God.”
Barbara Johnson couldn’t believe her eyes when her 20X The Cash ticket revealed a $250,000 prize. “I just started shouting and thanking God,” Johnson said. She bought the winning ticket from Quick N Easy on Burlington Rd. in #Greensboro. #NCLottery https://t.co/woarO2FKw8 pic.twitter.com/TRN7NX5Y9b
— NC Education Lottery (@nclottery) March 2, 2021
She beat one in 1.68 million odds to win one of the game’s top prizes, according to the lottery system.
Johnson claimed her winnings Tuesday, collecting a check for $176,876 after federal and state taxes, lottery officials said.
She says she intends to spend the money paying off bills that have piled up since her husband died.
“I lost my husband going on three years now so this will help me,” Johnson said. “I just bought a new car and I want to pay it off and I want to pay my house off. It means a whole lot. I’ll help my kids out, too.”
The 20X The Cash game is a scratch off ticket that has prizes ranging from $5 up to $250,000.
