$400,000 win helps Thomson woman aim for college

Wednesday, May 26, 2010

ATLANTA – A Thomson woman, who won a towering $400,000 prize, wants to use her windfall to gain a higher education, thanks to the Georgia Lottery. Latoya Bartie played the instant game 20X The Money and won a $400,000 top prize.

“I can’t even believe it,” she exclaimed. “Somebody please pinch me to make sure I’m not dreaming.”

The 27-year-old sales associate said she wants to enroll into a college to study business.

“I’ll probably buy a new car and a new house,” she added.

After leaving her parents’ home, Bartie decided to stop to purchase an instant ticket. She scratched it at home.

“I fell out,” she said. “I couldn’t breathe.”

Mo Convenience & Tobacco Store, 660 Augusta Highway in Thomson, sold the winning ticket.

Bartie said she’s excited about her future and her lottery win.

Since its first year, the Georgia Lottery Corporation has returned more than $11.7 billion to the state of Georgia for education. All Georgia Lottery profits go to pay for specific educational programs, including Georgia’s HOPE Scholarship Program and Georgia’s Pre-K Program. More than 1.2 million students have received HOPE, and more than 1 million 4-year-olds have attended the statewide, voluntary prekindergarten program.

For more information on the Georgia Lottery Corporation, please visit:
www.galottery.com,

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Tandi Reddick
Media Relations Manager

P 404.215.5062
F 404.215.8983
media [at] galottery [dot] org

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