Lottery player hits the jackpot in second-chance NC drawing. ‘Still in dream land’
A North Carolina woman hit the jackpot — fulfilling her dream of a lottery win.
“I’m still in dream land,” Sandra Culifer of Edgecombe County told the N.C. Education Lottery. “I can’t even explain how I’m feeling.”
Culifer basked in her six-figure win after she put her ticket from the Multiply the Cash game into a second-chance drawing, as she typically does, officials wrote in a June 12 news release.
“There’s always that chance, you just never know,” Culifer said in the release. “So I just figured, ‘Why not?”
Then, after the June 7 drawing, Culifer said she got an email telling her she won the top prize of $200,000. It left her in disbelief.
“I glanced at the email and saw it came from lottery and I said, ‘Wait a minute. This says I won,’” she told officials. “I had to go find out if it was real.”
The big win was the real deal, as Culifer’s ticket was chosen from over 42 million entries. She kept $142,500 after taxes, lottery officials said.
Now, Culifer said she plans to share some of her prize money with family and pay bills. She’s from Macclesfield, roughly 70 miles east of Raleigh.
It’s not the first time an email has left a North Carolina lottery player skeptical. In February, officials said a nursing student thought an online message she got about her jackpot win “was a joke” at first.
BEHIND THE STORY
MOREWhen gambling is more than a game
Gambling is designed to be a source of entertainment.
If you or a loved one shows signs of gambling addiction, you can seek help by calling the national gambling hotline at 1-800-522-4700 or visiting the National Council on Problem Gambling website.
This story was originally published June 13, 2023 at 2:23 PM with the headline "Lottery player hits the jackpot in second-chance NC drawing. ‘Still in dream land’."
