CHARLOTTE, N.C. _ A North Carolina woman accidentally won nearly $280,000 this week, after she was handed the wrong lottery ticket at a Goldsboro convenience store, according to the North Carolina Education Lottery.
Zerineia Carmichael's tally after the mix-up was $277,777, said a press release.
It happened Sunday when she stopped to buy gas at the Circle K on West Grantham Street in Goldsboro, lottery officials said. Goldsboro is about 60 miles southeast of Raleigh.
While in the store, she ordered a $5 Carolina Panthers lottery ticket, a game that offers both cash and the chance to win a luxury suite at Bank of America Stadium for the Carolina Panthers 2019 season, lottery officials said.
However, the clerk gave her a 777 lottery ticket, which is worth about $80,000 more, lottery officials said. She realized she won the game's top prize while scratching off the numbers in the parking lot, according to lottery officials.
"Normally, I would have asked (the clerk) to give me what I asked for," Carmichael said in a press release. "But something just said to keep the ticket. At first I thought I'd only won $7, but I kept scratching. ... I was in shock when I realized what I'd won."
She claimed her winnings Monday morning, which taxes and withholding whittled down to $195,837, lottery officials said.
That left more than enough for Carmichael to fulfill big a need: She intends to buy a white Toyota Corolla, lottery officials said.
