GREENSBORO, N.C. — Katie Knighten said she can afford to buy her home now after winning a Fast Play jackpot in Greensboro.
Knighten brought her lucky $5 Safari Bingo ticket on September 23 from the Quick & Easy on Burlington Road in Greensboro. She is also an employee at the store.
"I was feeling off that day and, to be honest, I don't really know why I bought it. Something told me to buy it" said Knighten. "Whenever I did the bingo thing. I scanned it and it said to go to the lottery place. I (was) expecting maybe $1000. Then I looked at it and it said the jackpot and I called my mama, and I said I think I won the jackpot."
Knighten recently lost her father in August, so the win holds extra meaning for her.
"We felt like it was a blessing from him," she said. "He was the sole provider for my mom. So now I'm buying us a property and house so that way my kids and my mother will always be taken care of."
Knighten told the N.C. Education Lottery that they rent their current home, so she'd like to buy it.
"I will continue working. I will continue living my life the way I've been living it," Knighten said. "My main thing is to be able to make sure my kids and my mother is taken care of."
Knighten also bought a new truck with the winnings.
The Fast Play rolling jackpot grows with every ticket purchased. When Knighten bought her Safari Bingo ticket, it had just reached $286,474. Because she bought a $5 ticket, she won 50 percent of the jackpot.
She collected her prize Wednesday and took home $101,714 after required state taxes.
The Fast Play jackpot was $144,000 Thursday morning and is growing. The odds of winning a Fast Play jackpot are 1 in 320,000.
Ticket sales from Fast Play make it possible for the lottery to raise $2.5 million a day on average for education.