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A woman in North Carolina is celebrating an impressive lottery win after a last-minute ticket purchase landed her a huge prize.
Linda Denning, of Pittsboro, stopped by the Breeze Thru on East Street with her husband where they picked up some tickets for the Cash 5 drawing on February 26, a move that nearly didn't happen, according to a release from the NC Education Lottery.
"We were about to leave but my husband decided to go back to buy some Cash 5 tickets for us," she said.
Fortunately for the Chatham County woman, they did pick up some tickets as one lucky $1 Quick Pick ticket matched all five numbers called in the drawing to beat the odds of 1 in 962,598 to win the jackpot, which at that time totaled $368,962. She told lottery officials she quickly called her son to share the exciting news.
"I called my son and said, 'I think I won the jackpot,'" she recalled.
Denning claimed her prize at lottery headquarters on Monday (April 7), taking home a grand total of $265,448 after all required state and federal tax withholdings. According to lottery officials, she plans to use her new winnings to pay bills and do some projects around her house.
"It was like it was meant to be," she said. "It was meant for us."