Stopping for gas, SC woman ‘randomly’ picked NC scratch-off ticket and hit a jackpot
A South Carolina woman visiting family in Charlotte hit a lottery jackpot after stopping at a convenience store, she said, to fill her tank with gas.
Leticia Flores Alvarado of Greenwood scanned the lineup of lottery tickets when she went inside to pay, she told The Charlotte Observer on Saturday.
She “randomly” settled on a $10 50X The Cash ticket, she said.
It wasn’t the color of the ticket, that it sparkled or anything amid the other tickets, or that the game just recently debuted, she said when asked by the Observer.
“Intuition” was the reason she chose the ticket that landed her a $1 million prize, she explained.
Alvarado became the first million-dollar winner in the game, according to a lottery news release on Friday.
She beat odds of 1 in 3.44 million, according to the 50X The Cash page on the N.C. Education Lottery website.
Alvarado bought the ticket at the BP Food Mart on West Sugar Creek Road and claimed her prize at lottery headquarters in Raleigh on Friday, according to the lottery.
She had the choice of a $50,000 annuity over 20 years or a $600,000 lump sum. She chose the lump sum, netting $426,063 after taxes, officials said.
“I’d like to help out some charities,” Alvardo told the Observer, although she said she hasn’t decided which ones.
50X The Cash debuted in February with eight top $1-million prizes.
This story was originally published March 26, 2022 at 10:21 AM.