Lottery player thought she won $10,000 — but NC prize was worth 100 times more
A North Carolina woman couldn’t take her eyes off her winning lottery ticket, totally unaware that it hid an even larger prize.
“I just kept looking at it,” Karina Goicochea told the North Carolina Education Lottery, initially thinking she won $10,000 on a $1,000,000 Cashword scratch-off game.
She bought the $10 ticket at a BP Station in Zebulon, lottery officials said in a June 13 news release. It wasn’t until she went to collect her winnings at lottery headquarters that she learned her windfall was worth 100 times more.
Goicochea had won the $1 million jackpot, beating odds of 1 in 1,210,185 to snag the top prize.
“Reality still hasn’t hit me yet,” the Johnston County woman told officials. “I won the big one.”
She chose the lump sum payment of $600,000 and took home $430,503 after taxes, the lottery said.
Goicochea told officials she plans to invest her winnings.
One of the four $1 million prizes remains up for grabs in the $1,000,000 Cashword game, according to the lottery’s website.
Zebulon is about a 20-mile drive east from downtown Raleigh.
This story was originally published June 13, 2025 at 4:04 PM with the headline "Lottery player thought she won $10,000 — but NC prize was worth 100 times more."