Lottery player follows gut and buys $50 ticket for first time. It pays off big in NC
A North Carolina woman trusted her instincts and bought a $50 lottery ticket, and it led to a huge win.
“My gut feeling just told me to buy that ticket,” Mary Barbour told lottery officials, a March 14 news release from the North Carolina Education Lottery said.
The woman bought the $10 Million Spectacular scratch-off ticket at a convenience store in Four Oaks.
“That was the first time I’ve bought a $50 ticket,” she said.
But Barbour said she had luck from that store before when she won $10,000.
“That was my biggest win before this,” she said.
This time, her prize was $100,000.
After taxes, she took home $71,764. She said she plans to use the money to pay bills and “pay for a birthday beach trip for her grandson.”
Four Oaks is about a 35-mile drive southeast of Raleigh.
This story was originally published March 16, 2025 at 3:06 PM with the headline "Lottery player follows gut and buys $50 ticket for first time. It pays off big in NC."
