**For more on the Mega Millions in Ohio, watch the video below:
DUNHAM COUNTY, North Carolina — Earlier this month, a nurse working on the front lines of the COVID-19 pandemic got a random call telling her she won $1 million.
She couldn’t believe her ears.
“I thought that it was a scam. I was a little upset actually,” said Terri Watkins, of Durham, in a press release. “I thought that it was not real, couldn’t be real. It’s still something that I really don’t believe, I’m still in some shock here.”
But it was real. Watkins’ entry was chosen from over 513,000 others in the final $300 million Supreme Riches second-chance drawing in North Carolina last week. Winners of second-chance drawings recieve a phone call or email notifying them that they won.
Watkins said she works in a COVID-19 unit at a long-term care facility.
“Just seeing some of the things that I’ve had to see, I am very thankful,” she said. “I had been praying for something to help me with this situation. It really is a great thing. I’m very blessed.”
Watkins had the option to take the $1 million prize as an annuity of 20 payments of $50,000 a year or a lump sum of $600,000. She chose the lump sum and took home $425,500 after state and federal tax withholdings.
“I’m just gonna take it slow and easy and figure out what I’m gonna do,” said Watkins. “I would love a new home, but I’ve just got to take time and put it in the right place.”
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