BURKE COUNTY, N.C. (News Release) — Nancy Kelly of Hickory and her husband, Dean, work together, coach together, play the lottery together, and now get to say they’ve won $100,000 together.
Nancy, an East Burke Middle School PE teacher and volleyball and basketball coach, said it was a normal day at the Kelly household.
“We just worked,” Nancy recalled. “My husband went down to pick up some things at the store and bought one ticket. We got home, I was making dinner and we were watching Wheel of Fortune when I decided to scratch it off and there it was.”
The lone $150 Million Cash Explosion ticket was from The Ole Store on Burke Street in Rhodhiss and Dean only bought it because he noticed a sign there about a lottery winner.
“He picks them out and I scratch them,” said Nancy.
“She’s always been lucky,” added Dean. “That’s why I don’t mind that she scratches.”
When Nancy started screaming, “we won!” Dean said he knew “something good was going on.”
Nancy’s good luck started earlier in the week when she won $100 off of a scratch-off ticket the day before her big win on Tuesday.
“Every now and then, if I get a feeling, I pick up a ticket,” she said.
The Kellys claimed their prize Wednesday at lottery headquarters in Raleigh. After required federal and state tax withholdings, they took home $70,756. They don’t know what they’ll do with their big win just yet, but Dean says he’s always wanted to go to California to watch his favorite sports teams play and would love to do it with their two sons.
The $20 game launched in October 2018 with four $4 million top prizes, six $1 million prizes, and 10 $100,000 prizes. Two $4 million top prizes, one $1 million prize, and three $100,000 prizes remain to be won.
Ticket sales from scratch-off games make it possible for the lottery to raise more than $725 million per year for education. For details on how $5.2 million raised by the lottery made a difference in Burke County in 2019, visit www.nclottery.com and click on the “Impact” section.
