Mom of five wins millions in NC lottery — and can’t wait to tell her children
A mom of five won a huge lottery prize — and couldn’t wait to share the news with her children.
“I got them on a video call and told them, ‘We are millionaires,’” Cesaltina Ribeiro told the North Carolina Education Lottery.
As Ribeiro basks in her $4.7 million win, she plans to treat her loved ones to a new home and a family vacation.
“It’s an amazing feeling,” Ribeiro told lottery officials in a July 7 news release. “Now I can do a lot more.”
Ribeiro was in bed when she went online to try her luck on the Outlaw’s Loot game. It turns out, her $1 ticket beat 1-in-50 million odds to hit the jackpot, McClatchy News reported.
The lucky winner called her kids right away, but they were concerned at first.
“I kept yelling so they didn’t know what was going on,” Ribeiro told lottery officials.
Ribeiro couldn’t contain herself after scoring the second-highest prize ever won in the lottery’s digital instant games. The record holder is a $6.7 million ticket sold in April, McClatchy News reported.
Ribeiro kept $3.3 million after taxes. In addition to helping her family, the mother and grandmother hopes to invest her prize money.
She lives in Elm City, a roughly 50-mile drive east from Raleigh.
This story was originally published July 8, 2025 at 9:54 AM with the headline "Mom of five wins millions in NC lottery — and can’t wait to tell her children."
