(Gray News) – A woman from South Carolina thought she had only won $250 playing a scratch-off lottery ticket in North Carolina, but the winning amount turned out to be much more.
“I freaked out,” Ashley Ellison of Gaffney, S.C. told lottery officials.
She has a tradition of playing the lottery with her uncle and was with him when they stopped to get a ticket from Dhiya Food Mart in Shelby.
“It was his idea to stop,” Ellison said. “We go out to eat sometimes and then buy tickets.”
When Ellison scratched the ticket, she initially misread the winning amount for $250.
When she realized she’d actually won $250,000, she said it took her time to process the big win, according to the North Carolina Education Lottery.
“The whole ride home I was like, ‘Really? I won $250,000? Seriously?’” Ellison said.
She said the win comes at the perfect time and will help make for a great Christmas.
Ellison collected her prize at lottery headquarters Tuesday, and after required state and federal tax withholdings, took home $178,756.
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