Dream Leads North Carolina Woman to First Lottery Ticket and $100,000 Prize
Monday September 21st 2020Kaila Moore of Durham, North Carolina, had never played the lottery before. Then one night, the East Carolina University student had a dream that she purchased a scratch-off ticket.
“I’ve never bought a lottery ticket ever in my entire life,” Moore explained to North Carolina Education Lottery officials. “I literally had a dream that I bought a scratch-off. So, when I woke up I went and bought one.”
The next morning, Moore headed to the Food Lion grocery store on West Main Street in Durham and picked up a $20 ticket for the $4,000,000 Gold Rush game.
She returned home to scratch the ticket - and found out she'd won $100,000! “I was with my mom,” Moore said. “She was more excited about it than me!”
Mother and daughter knew instantly that the six-figure win would fund Moore's further education. “I plan to go to medical school and medical school is not cheap!” she said. “I’m going to invest some of it in a mutual fund and the rest I’m just going to save.”
Moore collected her second-tier prize recently at the North Carolina Education Lottery's Raleigh headquarters. She received $70,756 after federal and state tax withholdings, but said she would delay celebrating until after she finished physics class and studying.
Moore's experience may seem unusual, but actually it's not unheard-of for players to dream of winning lottery numbers and score a prize with them after waking up! In 2017, Rebecca T. from Marion, Indiana won a $1 million Powerball prize with numbers that her daughter had dreamed about.
More NC scratch-off prizes to be won
The $4,000,000 Gold Rush game launched statewide in August, with three top prizes of $4 million and six prizes of $100,000. Two $4 million prizes and five $100,000 prizes are still out there to be won. The game has a total of 12 prize levels starting at $20.
The game's first $4 million top prize was claimed by Greensboro man Fred Freeman Jr. on September 1. The lucky winner bought his ticket at Quick Snack on Battleground Avenue in Greensboro.
Freeman visited Lottery Headquarters in Raleigh to collect his prize. He had a choice between receiving the full $4 million as an annuity of $200,000 per year over 20 years, or a cash lump sum payment of $2.4 million. He chose the cash option and received $1,698,006 after tax withholdings.
NC scratch-off players like Moore and Freeman have helped the Lottery contribute over $725 million towards education in the state every year. Durham County received $13.1 million in Lottery funds in 2019, and a total of $135 million to date. Guildford County, where Greensboro is located, received $31.9 million last year out of a total of $331.5 million.
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