‘Terrible day’ at work leads woman to buy lottery ticket. She won big in NC
A North Carolina woman was having a bad day — then a winning lottery ticket turned her luck around.
“I decided to stop for some scratch-offs after a terrible day at work,” Linda Boykin told the N.C. Education Lottery. “It always lifts my spirits when I play.”
This time, one of the tickets Boykin bought was worth $200,000. She couldn’t believe her luck.
“I had to pinch myself,” she told lottery officials in an April 12 news release. “I didn’t think it was real.”
Boykin won big after she stopped at Bonnetsville Kwik Stop in the Sampson County city of Clinton, a roughly 60-mile drive south from Raleigh. While at the convenience store, she spent $5 on her winning Prize Link Multiplier ticket.
It turns out, she scored the first-ever top prize in the game, which launched April 1.
“I like playing the new games when they come out,” Boykin said, per the release.
The prize winner, who lives in Clinton, kept $143,501 after taxes. She plans to put the money toward bills and retirement.
It’s not the first time someone has gotten richer after experiencing a rough patch. Another North Carolina lottery player accidentally hit two deer with his new car before discovering he won $2 million, McClatchy News reported in 2021.
This story was originally published April 14, 2025 at 8:40 AM with the headline "‘Terrible day’ at work leads woman to buy lottery ticket. She won big in NC."
