Mom ‘in a trance’ after winning big NC lottery prize while supporting education

Mother and education aficionado Michelle McClure has a motive for playing the North Carolina lottery — and it’s not just the hope she would snag a jackpot.

For McClure, playing the lottery is a way to support schools in her home state, and in turn, support her kids, she told lottery officials.

“I’m helping my kids get their education and that’s what matters to me,” McClure, a Waynesville resident, told lottery officials. “I can never lose if my money goes to my kids’ education.”

In her latest lottery play, McClure did a lot more than not lose money — she won $200,000 in the Gold Standard game, lottery officials said in a Wednesday, June 22, news release.

“I was sort of in a trance when I saw I won,” McClure told lottery officials.

The mom bought her $5 ticket at Southeast Energy on South Main Street in Waynesville, lottery officials said.

She plans to use the winnings to pay off her mortgage and take a family trip to a water park in Tennessee, according to lottery officials.

“This really helps us out tremendously,” McClure said. “It couldn’t have happened at a better time.”

McClure took home $142,021 after taxes, lottery officials said.

The North Carolina Education Lottery raises more than $900 million per year for education purposes, according to officials.

Waynesville is about 159 miles northwest of Charlotte.

This story was originally published June 22, 2022 at 3:44 PM with the headline "Mom ‘in a trance’ after winning big NC lottery prize while supporting education."

Alison Cutler

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Alison Cutler is a National Real Time Reporter for the Southeast at McClatchy. She graduated from the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Arizona State University and previously worked for The News Leader in Staunton, VA, a branch of USAToday.