A North Carolina mother of six has made history by winning the very first jackpot in a new lottery game.
Trena Nicholson of Hamlet, North Carolina, picked up a scratch-off ticket at a local Speedway, according to the North Carolina Education Lottery.
The ticket was part of the recently launched Ruby Red 7’s scratch-off game, which debuted earlier this month. The game features three top prizes worth $2 million each and nine prizes of $100,000. Nicholson said she was stunned when she realized she had won big.
“I was jumping up and down screaming,” she recalled. “I had to look at it again to make sure I was seeing it right.”
Her first call was to her six children, repeating, “I won, I won, I won” as they tried to process the news. Though Nicholson had always told her family she would win the lottery someday, the reality still came as a shock.
Nicholson claimed her prize at the lottery headquarters on Aug. 21. She chose the lump-sum payout of $1.2 million instead of $100,000 annually for 20 years. After taxes, she received $861,006, which she plans to use to pay bills and help her family.
So far, Nicholson is the only winner of the game’s $2 million prize. Two other players have already secured $100,000 prizes, according to the North Carolina Education Lottery.
