Coffee run leads to big NC lottery win. ‘I was so excited I didn’t know how to act’
A lottery player thought her ticket was worth “maybe $500” — then got a much bigger surprise in North Carolina.
“I was so excited I didn’t know how to act,” Shirley Ross, who scored a $137,093 prize, told the N.C. Education Lottery. “I just couldn’t believe it.”
Ross hit the jackpot after she went on a routine coffee run in Roanoke Rapids, roughly 80 miles northeast of Raleigh. While grabbing the drink at a Speedway gas station, she spent $10 on a lottery ticket, the lottery wrote in an April 6 news release.
Officials said Ross was still at the store when she scanned her ticket for the 50X The Cash game. She got a message to come to the lottery’s headquarters in Raleigh but figured she hadn’t won much money.
“I was thinking I won maybe $500,” Ross said. “I had no idea I won the jackpot.”
But the win was the real deal, with Ross’ ticket beating 1-in-320,000 odds to score the jackpot prize. Ross, who is from Halifax County, kept $97,682 after taxes and said she plans to save the extra cash.
It’s not the first time a coffee run has left a North Carolina lottery player in shock.
In 2021, officials said a man bought a cup and a lucky lottery ticket on his way to work. A year earlier, a student on a caffeine break bought a ticket that made her much richer, McClatchy News reported.
BEHIND THE STORY
MOREWhen gambling is more than a game
Gambling is designed to be a source of entertainment.
If you or a loved one shows signs of gambling addiction, you can seek help by calling the national gambling hotline at 1-800-522-4700 or visiting the National Council on Problem Gambling website.
This story was originally published April 6, 2023 at 1:42 PM with the headline "Coffee run leads to big NC lottery win. ‘I was so excited I didn’t know how to act’."
