With birthday on the way, her fiancé bought her a lottery ticket. NC woman won big.
With her birthday on the way, a North Carolina woman got a surprise lottery ticket from her fiancé, and she won a big prize, N.C. lottery officials said Wednesday.
“I was in disbelief,” Pineville resident Latonya Louden said when she claimed the top prize in the $5 Power Cashword scratch-off game at lottery headquarters in Raleigh on Wednesday, according to a lottery news release.
“I’ve never won anything like this,” she said about her $150,000 win.
Louden beat odds of 1 in 3.83 million, according to the Power Cashword game page on N.C. Lottery.com.
After taxes, she took home $107,251, according to the lottery.
Louden’s fiancé bought the ticket at B&M Food Service on Lancaster Highway, officials said.
She said she’d never played the Power Cashword game before, and her fiancé “likes the crossword games.”
Louden will buy a car to celebrate her birthday win.
“I might get an SUV,” she said. “Maybe an Audi or an Acura.”
The Power Cashword game started in October with six top prizes, four of which remain to be won.
This story was originally published March 7, 2024 at 6:00 AM with the headline "With birthday on the way, her fiancé bought her a lottery ticket. NC woman won big.."