NC winner hits jackpot after store clerk hands her a lottery ticket to the wrong game

A North Carolina woman accidentally won nearly $280,000 this week, after she was handed the wrong lottery ticket at a Goldsboro convenience store, according to the North Carolina Education Lottery.

Zerineia Carmichael’s tally after the mix-up was $277,777, said a press release.

It happened Sunday when she stopped to buy gas at the Circle K on West Grantham Street in Goldsboro, said lottery officials. Goldsboro is about 60 miles southeast of Raleigh.

While in the store, she ordered a $5 Carolina Panthers lottery ticket, a game that offers both cash and the chance to win a luxury suite at Bank of America Stadium for the Carolina Panthers 2019 season, lottery officials said.

However, the clerk gave her a 777 lottery ticket, which is worth about $80,000 more, said lottery officials. She realized she won the game’s top prize while scratching off the numbers in the parking lot, said lottery officials.

“Normally, I would have asked (the clerk) to give me what I asked for,” Carmichael said in a press release. “But something just said to keep the ticket. At first I thought I’d only won $7, but I kept scratching....I was in shock when I realized what I’d won.”

She claimed her winnings Monday morning, which taxes and withholding whittled down to $195,837, lottery officials said.

That left more than enough for Carmichael to fulfill big a need: She intends to buy a white Toyota Corolla, lottery officials said.

This story was originally published November 27, 2018 at 10:20 AM with the headline "NC winner hits jackpot after store clerk hands her a lottery ticket to the wrong game."