ALAMANCE COUNTY, N.C. — A Union County woman said she found a lottery ticket worth $500,000 Tuesday just before it expired, North Carolina lottery officials said.
Ana Maya, 32, said she bought a Quick Pick ticket for the Cash 5 drawing on Sept. 6. Winners have 180 days to claim their prize before it expires.
Maya said she packed the winning ticket into a box while she was in the process of moving into a new house. She said when she started unpacking, the $532,234 ticket went missing.
“These last couple of months have been very stressful trying to find it,” Maya said. “I totally forgot where I put it.”
Maya said as she looked for the ticket, she knew time was running out. It was set to expire on March 6. She said she finally found it on Tuesday in one of her old notebooks from high school.
“I was very, very relieved when I finally found it,” Maya said. “That was the last place I would have looked.”
According to reports, Maya purchased the ticket from Huff’s Interstate on Maple Avenue in Burlington. She claimed her prize Wednesday at lottery headquarters in Raleigh and ultimately took home $346,005.
Maya said she wants to set some money aside for her two small children, pay some bills, invest some and take a nice vacation.
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