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A lucky woman in North Carolina has a better chance of retiring on scheduled after landing an impressive $1 million lottery win.
Veronica Cunningham, of Charlotte, recently scored a massive prize after she beat more than 1.9 million entries in the $10 Million Spectacular Second Chance drawing, according to a release from the NC Education Lottery. She told lottery officials that the win has been a long time coming as she has entered the second-chance drawings for years.
"I always had lots of hopes and dreams," she said, and even with years of waiting, she's still having a hard time believing it has finally happened. "It still hasn't set in yet that this is real."
Cunningham claimed her prize at lottery headquarters on Friday (March 28), where she had the choice to receive her win as either an annuity of $50,000 over the course of 20 years or as a one time, lump sum payment of $600,000. She ended up choosing the latter and was able to take home a total of $430,500 after all required state and federal tax withholdings.
According to lottery officials, she plans to use her winnings to pay off her house as well as achieve her dreams of retiring this year.
"This is crazy," she said. "It's just wild."