North Carolina woman given wrong lottery ticket wins $277K

RALEIGH, N.C. – A North Carolina woman who was given the wrong lottery game ticket is celebrating that mistake.

The N.C. Education Lottery said in a news release that Zerineia Carmichael of Goldsboro wanted to buy the Carolina Panthers lottery game ticket Sunday, but the store clerk gave her a “777” ticket instead.

Carmichael said she normally would have asked the clerk to give her what she asked for, but she decided instead to keep it. When she began scratching off the card in her car, she thought she had only won $7. She said she kept scratching and seeing more 7’s.

When she was done, Carmichael had won $277,777. After state and federal taxes, she took home $195,837, part of which she said she plans to use to get a new car.