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A North Carolina woman is still in shock after winning $2 million in the state lottery with a ticket she received as a gift.
Karen Urtecho Sandrez, of Charlotte, recently was gifted a scratch-off lottery ticket from a family friend. When it came time for her to scratch off the ticket, she discovered she won the $2 million jackpot, a moment she described as being "surreal," the Charlotte Observer reports.
"I could not believe it, honestly," she said. "You read it and you don't believe it."
According to the newspaper, Urtecho Sandrez's friend bought the winning 100X the Cash ticket at Lucia Food Mart in Stanley for $20.
"It's kind of surreal," she said Thursday (July 15) while claiming her prize at lottery headquarters in Raleigh.
When collecting her winnings, Urtecho Sandrez had the choice to either receive an annuity of $100,000 each year for 20 years or accept a one-time, lump sum payment of $1.2 million. She ended up choosing the latter and took home a grand total of $849,006 after state and federal taxes.
Urtecho Sandrez joins another Charlotte-area resident, Christopher Martin, who also won the $2 million prize in the 100X the Cash game earlier this year.