Woman wins millions when she buys $30 lottery ticket at North Carolina gas station

Spending $30 on a single lottery ticket might seem extravagant to some, but it paid off huge for a North Carolina woman.

The aptly named scratch-off ticket was in the Millionaire Bucks game and it won Patricia Osborne $166,666.66 for every dollar she spent.

That’s $5 million in total.

Osborne, who lives in Taylorsville, went to claim her prize Tuesday, Feb. 4, at lottery headquarters in Raleigh and she was given two options.

“She could choose to receive her prize as an annuity of $250,000 over 20 years or a lump sum,” lottery officials said in a Feb. 5 news release.

“She chose the lump sum of $3 million and, after required state and federal tax withholdings, took home $2,152,508.”

Five million is the top prize in Millionaire Bucks, and odds of winning it are 1 in 2,779,425, the lottery reports.

Osborne didn’t share her plans for spending the money.

She bought the ticket at the Market Basket convenience store in Conover in Catawba County. Conover is about a 45-mile drive northwest from Charlotte.

Millionaire Bucks made its debut in October with four top prizes of $5 million and Osborne is the first person to win one, lottery officials said.

This story was originally published February 6, 2025 at 9:24 AM with the headline "Woman wins millions when she buys $30 lottery ticket at North Carolina gas station."