Talk about a blessing. A North Carolina woman is $501,544 richer after she got a last-minute urge to buy a lottery ticket just minutes before the draw.
Stephanie Israel, 39, purchased a Quick Pick ticket just minutes before Saturday’s Cash 5 drawing, a ticket she purchased for $1.
The Guilford County woman didn’t realize she’d won until the following day when she opened her email, PEOPLE reported.
“When I went in and saw it, I screamed for like 20 minutes,” Israel told lottery officials. “I think I scared my family a little bit.”
“It was late at night, and I was lying in bed, and the spirit just told me to go online and buy one,” she told lottery officials.
Israel claimed her winnings, which ended up being $356,147 after state and federal withholding, at the lottery headquarters earlier this week.
She now hopes to use the money to invest in her family. “We are constantly thinking of new ideas for businesses,” she explained, adding, “Our boys already have a landscaping business.”
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