When a lottery player checked a recent North Carolina drawing in the middle of the night, she “jumped up and started screaming.”
In a news release dated July 12, the North Carolina Education Lottery announced that Marlene Hutchins had won the top prize of $100,000 in the July 9 Cash 5 drawing.
But the victory was almost lost. The N.C. Education Lottery reports that the Greenville mother “almost missed” the drawing deadline, which is 10:58 p.m. for online purchases. With less than ten minutes remaining, at 10:49 p.m., she purchased her drawing.
After that, she went to bed and the drawing continued. Hutchins began yelling later in the evening when she woke up to check her phone.
“I even woke up my kids,” she declared to lottery representatives.
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The N.C. Education Lottery reports that she beat the 1-in-962,598 odds by matching all five numbers to win the Cash 5 prize. She claimed that her victory had not yet set in.
“It’s like I’m going to wake up any minute,” Hutchins stated to lottery officials. “It doesn’t even feel real.”
She claimed she intends to pay some bills and purchase her daughter a car with the windfall, which comes to $71,500 after taxes. Located in Pitt County, Greenville is roughly 85 miles southeast of Raleigh.
