RALEIGH, NORTH CAROLINA — Wadesboro’s Charlene Lewis is the first player to win one of the $200,000 top prizes playing the new Carolina Panthers scratch-off game.
“I couldn’t believe it,” Lewis said when she realized she won. “We could hardly sleep last night.”
The North Carolina Education Lottery and Carolina Panthers teamed up to create North Carolina’s first Carolina Panthers ticket.
Lewis claimed her prize Thursday at the lottery headquarters in Raleigh.
After required state and federal tax withholdings, she took home $138,501. She plans to use some of the money to go on a cruise and put the rest in savings.
She bought the $5 ticket at the Quik Chek on Albermarle Road in Troy.
The ticket launched Tuesday with three top prizes of $200,000. Two top prizes remain.
In addition to a $200,000 top prize, players can enter their tickets into a second-chance drawing for a grand prize of 20 years of Panthers season tickets, a VIP game experience, and other prizes.
Ticket sales from games like Carolina Panthers made it possible for the lottery to raise more than $600 million for the state last year.