ATLANTA – A Vidalia woman has ramped up her excitement about the New Year, especially since winning a half-million dollar Georgia Lottery prize just days before 2012. Gloria Gilchrist, a Wal-Mart stocker, played the instant game Jumbo Jumbo Bucks and won a $500,000 top prize.
Gilchrist, 55, was on her way to pay off a bill when she stopped and purchased the ticket.
Shyam Discount, 405 E. First St. in Vidalia, sold it.
The mother of four scratched it in the store.
“‘There are so many zeros’ was my first thought,” she said. “I thought I was seeing things. I thought my mind was playing tricks on me.”
Feeling good about winning the lottery, Gilchrist anticipates buying a new house and a new car.
“I can pay off all of my bills,” she exclaimed.
Since its first year, the Georgia Lottery Corp. has returned more than $12.9 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 1.4 million students have received HOPE, and more than 1.1 million 4-year-olds have attended the statewide, voluntary prekindergarten program.
For more information on the Georgia Lottery Corp., please visit:
www.galottery.com and www.lotterybenefitsgeorgians.com
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