Sadhana Patel of New Bern won $ 373,741 in the jackpot, according to a press release from the North Carolina Educational Lottery (NC). She bought her ticket for $ 5 on January 16 and claimed the prize on Monday at the lottery headquarters in Raleigh.
“I was shocked,” said Patel in a statement. “I called my kids first and then told my husband. We were all happy and shocked at the same time.”
As she purchased a $ 5 Fast Play ticket, she receives 50% of the jackpot money, according to the lottery rules, and takes home $ 264,423 after the required federal and state tax withholdings.
“I said, ‘I feel like I have something good, so let me scan it,'” she recalled. “I realized that it said to take it to the lottery. Then I realized, ‘I think I got lucky’.”
Patel said he plans to use the prize money to pay some bills and share it with his family.
The chances of winning a Fast Play jackpot are 1 in 240,000, according to the NC Lottery.