Imagine sitting at your kitchen table one morning and your significant other walks in to tell you that you've just won thousands from playing the lottery?!
That's exactly what happened to Shirley Tucker of Greensboro. She was in disbelief when her husband had told her she won half of Monday’s $423,684 Cash 5 jackpot.
“I was sitting at the table and my husband came downstairs,” she said. “He actually had the ticket because I leave them on our nightstand and when he checks his, he checks mine as well. And when he came downstairs, he had it in his hand and he was like, ‘You got it!’”
Tucker said she was shocked and didn’t believe her husband at first.
“I have the lottery app on my phone and I said, ‘Well, give it here, let me scan it and see,’” she recalled. “So, I scanned it and it came up, ‘You have to go to the lottery headquarters.’”
Tucker bought her winning Quick Pick ticket from Jay’s Grocery on Summit Avenue in Greensboro.
Her ticket was one of two that matched all five numbers in the drawing. The winner of the other half bought the ticket at the Everest Mart on U.S. 401 South in Warrenton and has 180 days to claim their prize.
“I’m equally as happy though for them as well,” said Tucker on splitting the jackpot. “I hope that it’s gonna be beneficial for them, too.”
Tucker claimed her half of the jackpot, $211,842, at lottery headquarters in Raleigh on Tuesday. After taxes, she took home $149,879.
“We have five grandchildren, so we will get them a little bit more over Christmas this year,” said Tucker. “We do have some bills that we need to pay off and then we’ll put the rest in savings.”