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A North Carolina grandmother is celebrating a huge win after playing the lottery with a lucky set of numbers: her grandchildren's birthdays.
Claudette Cox, of Winterville, had just returned from a family vacation when she decided to pick up a $1 Cash 5 lottery ticket from the Harris Teeter on East Fire Tower Road in Greenville for the June 15 drawing, according to a release from the NC Education Lottery.
Cox told lottery officials she drew inspiration from her family when it came time to choose numbers for her ticket, picking the birthdays of her grandchildren for what was ultimately her lucky ticket.
"We had just gone on vacation together as a family and had such a great time so I just decided to use their birthdays for my numbers," she said.
As she watched the drawing, she quickly learned that she won the $569,347 jackpot and reacted accordingly.
"I started to run around the house," she said. "I was like pinching myself because I couldn't believe it was really happening to me."
Cox claimed her prize at lottery headquarters in Raleigh on Monday (July 8), taking home an impressive $407,084 after all required state and federal tax withholdings. According to lottery officials, she is still thinking of what to do with her new winnings other than put save some by putting it in the bank.
