‘This can’t be real.’ NC woman wins $2 million lottery without leaving the house

Shanika Miller woke up on a Saturday morning in April to a text saying she won $2 million, and she couldn’t believe it.

“I woke up in the morning around 6 and looked, and I was crying,” Miller said, according to an NC Education Lottery release. “I said, ‘No this can’t be real.’ I kept checking it and checking it and checking it.”

A $3 ticket she bought for the April 4 Power Play drawing turned out to be a pretty good investment. And with an Online Play account, she didn’t even have to break social distancing to buy it, according to the release.

“When I don’t have a chance to make it to the store, I play online,” said Miller, who lives in Durham. “It’s more convenient and I don’t have to leave the house.”

Against 11.6 million-to-1 odds, Miller’s ticket matched all five balls drawn, netting her $1,415,001, after taxes.

Her children may deserve some of the credit — she uses their birthdays for her lucky numbers.

“I keep my same numbers,” said Miller. “I never switch them up.”

Those digits did her favors before, too. In 2017 she won $50,000 playing Powerball.

Miller’s plans for the latest cash winnings include buying her son a car, buying her family a house, and then paying off all her bills, according to the release.

Her kids tell her, “‘Mom, you deserve it. You do so much for everybody,’” she said.

Under normal circumstances, the NC Education Lottery requires winnings of $100,000 or more to be picked up in person, but the agency has temporarily lifted that rule in response to the coronavirus pandemic.

This story was originally published May 13, 2020 at 8:04 PM.