A North Carolina mother won a $4 million lottery victory, but her children weren’t convinced.
“I called my children and my mother, but neither of them believed me,” Tina Hansley told the North Carolina Education Lottery.
The victory was true, and it happened after Hansley tried her luck with a $30 scratch-off ticket for the Black Titanium game. She’d been playing the game since its release in June 2023.
“There’s always a chance,” Hansley told lottery officials in a Nov. 1 statement. “You just never know so you try and see what happens.”
Tina Hansley of #Currie said her family couldn’t believe it when she told them she won a $4 million scratch-off prize. “I called my children and my mom but none of them believed me,” she laughed. Her Black Titanium ticket was from Yaya Mini Mart on NC 210. https://t.co/JYAMe5Pakg pic.twitter.com/KoAacV7Xmt
— NC Education Lottery (@nclottery) November 1, 2024
This time, Hansley purchased her lucky ticket at the Yaya Mini Mart in Currie, some 25 miles northwest of Wilmington.
The enormous win prompted her to seek a second opinion.
“I asked the girl in the store to look at it to make sure I was looking at it right,” Hansley told me. “Then I tried to calm down.” “I was shocked.”
The jackpot winner, who is also from Currie, chose not to receive annual payments and instead accepted her $2.4 million award in one lump sum. She kept approximately $1.7 million after taxes.
It is not the first time that a lottery winner’s family has been left in shock. In October, McClatchy News reported that another North Carolina woman had to send a snapshot to her daughters after winning the jackpot.
Many people can gamble or play games of chance without causing harm. However, for some, gambling is an addiction that may destroy lives and families.
If you or a loved one exhibits signs of gambling addiction, contact the national gambling hotline at 1-800-522-4700 or go to the National Council on Problem Gambling website.