Trending

NC postal worker who stopped for chicken nuggets wins $500K lottery prize

RALEIGH, N.C. — This was one profitable lunch break.

A North Carolina postal worker who stopped to buy chicken nuggets at a convenience store hit it big when she also bought a Big Spin scratch-off ticket and won $500,000, WRAL reported. Barbara Hanks-Davis became the first person to spin the lottery’s Big Spin prize wheel and win the game’s top prize, according to a news release from the NC Education Lottery. The game was launched in October.

Hanks-Davis, of Henderson, stopped at a Han-Dee Hugo store last week and bought her lunch, then purchased the $5 scratch-off, according to the lottery office’s news release.

Hanks-Davis scratched off the ticket in her car to access the spin code. Then, she he went to www.ncbigspin.com and entered her code. That enabled Hanks-Davis to spin a digital win, and it landed on the Big Spin, lottery officials said.

"I thought, ‘This can’t be right. Maybe I hit the wrong button,’” Hanks-Davis told lottery officials. “I called my son and had him check it, and he said, ‘Yes, Mom. You did win.’ I started jumping and screaming on the phone. I was screaming and hollering, I was so excited. I had to calm myself down so I didn’t have a heart attack.”

On Monday, Hanks-Davis went to Lottery headquarters in Raleigh to spin the Big Spin prize wheel. After spinning the wheel, she watched as it landed on the top prize of $500,000.

Hanks-Davis took home $353,722 after state and federal taxes, WRAL reported. She told lottery officials she was going to enjoy her winnings.

“First and foremost, I’m going to do something for me,” Hanks-Davis said in the news release. “It’s been a long time since I’ve been in a situation to do something for myself. Then, I’m going to make sure my family is taken care of. I’m also close to retirement, so hopefully this means I can retire a few years early.”