The power of positive thinking procures a big win

By Kate Northrop

HAMPSTEAD, N.C. — A North Carolina woman said she "manifested" a $100,000 win in the lottery after having always believed a big prize would come her way.

One North Carolina woman credits the power of suggestion and positive thinking for her $100,000 lottery win, but it didn't stop her from experiencing the shock of a big win.

Audrey Peele of Wilmington told North Carolina Lottery officials about how she was certain a lottery prize would be coming down the pipeline for her.

"I always thought I would win big one day," Peele said to the Lottery. "In my mind, I manifested it."

Her fated win occurred when she visited the Scotchman convenience store on Country Club Road in Hampstead, where she purchased a $20 "Ruby Red 7's" scratch-off ticket.

"I went to the store looking for the new tickets," Peele recalled. "I like playing the new games."

No matter how much she may have willed the win into existence, nothing could have prepared her for the shocking moment a $100,000 prize revealed itself on the play area.

"I wasn't expecting to see all those zeroes," she said in a press release, recounting the surprise she felt on Monday night. "I called my wife and told her I just won 100 grand. She didn't believe me because I kid with her a lot."

She visited Lottery headquarters in Raleigh on Tuesday to claim her prize and took home $71,756 after federal and state taxes, which she plans on using to pay off her car.

Peele claimed the first second-tier prize of $100,000 out of the nine available in the $20 "Ruby Red 7's" game, which had just officially hit retailers around the time she bought her winning ticket. All three top prizes of $2 million and all 30 third-tier prizes of $10,000 are currently available to win.

The overall odds of winning any prize in the game are 1 in 3.45.