'A miracle:' NC great-grandmother strikes it rich with $10M scratch-off win

GROVER, N.C. (WPVI) -- It is a very happy New Year for Dorothy Martin. The great-grandmother from Grover, North Carolina did not need to eat collard greens or black-eyed peas for good fortune in 2019. She won a $10 million scratch-off North Carolina Education Lottery prize.

"It's a miracle!" Martin said to lottery officials. "I still can't believe this is happening."

WTVD-TV reports, she bought an Extreme Millions scratch-off ticket and could not believe her eyes.

"I started at the bottom," Martin said. "I didn't match any of the numbers. When I got to the top, I closed my eyes and scratched. When I opened them I couldn't believe it. I just thought, 'Could this be real?'"

Martin says she returned to the Number Three Handy Mart and asked the clerk to check her ticket.

"I told her, 'If this is real, you better call the paramedics now. I'm sure I'll have a heart attack,'" Martin said.

Martin had the option of a $10 million annuity, 20 payments of $500,000 a year, or a lump sum of $6 million. She chose the lump sum and after taxes took home $4,230,069.

Martin says she plans to use some of the money to get a new home and help her grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

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