A North Carolina woman who bought a winning lottery ticket on her 20th wedding anniversary in January didn’t realize she hit the jackpot until last week.
“I was shocked,” said Sadhana Patel, who claimed the $373,741 prize a week ago at lottery headquarters in Raleigh. “I called my kids first, and then I told my husband. We were all happy and shocked at the same time.”
The New Bern resident purchased the $5 Rockin’ Bingo Fast Play ticket all the way back on Jan. 16 at a U Pick Food Mart store that she owns, reports said.
The North Carolina Education Lottery determined she could only claim half the jackpot based on the rules for “fast play” tickets.
Still, Patel was able to walk away with a $264,423 windfall after federal and state taxes were taken out.
It was unclear why Patel had held onto the ticket for more than two months.
By last Monday, however, the woman had a premonition.
“I said, ‘I feel like I got something good, so let me scan it,’ " she recalled. “I realized it said take it to the lottery. Then I realized, ‘I think I hit the jackpot.’”
The odds of winning a Fast Play jackpot are 1 in 240,000, according to the North Carolina Lottery.
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