31 years of marriage, no romantic getaway — until $1 million prize changes that

By Kate Northrop

HOLLY SPRINGS, N.C. — After 31 years of marriage, a North Carolina couple will finally get to go on their long-awaited honeymoon thanks to a $1 million win in the lottery.

A North Carolina woman was ecstatic to tell her husband that they could finally go on their honeymoon after she found out she won $1 million on a scratch-off lottery ticket.

Cheryl Bach of Holly Springs was at the Harris Teeter grocery store on Village Walk Drive in Holly Springs when she decided to buy a lottery ticket. She ended up settling on the "$10 Million Spectacular" scratch-off game, one of the North Carolina Lottery's $50 instant games.

To say she couldn't believe her eyes was not an exaggeration.

"I had to put my glasses on to make sure I was seeing it right," Bach laughed with Lottery officials.

Luckily for Bach, she nabbed one of the second-tier $1 million prizes before the game got taken off the shelves for good. Since all top prizes of $10 million have already been claimed, it's set to end on Nov. 21.

"I was shaking for the rest of the day," Bach said in a press release, adding that it took her some time to calm down.

She immediately got her husband on the phone to tell him about her incredible luck, but he needed some proof.

"He didn't believe me," Bach recalled in a press release. "I had to take a picture to show him."

She visited Lottery headquarters in Raleigh on Friday to claim the $1 million prize, which she chose to receive as a lump sum of $600,000 rather than take the prize as an annuity of $50,000 paid out over 20 years. After taxes, she took home a grand total of $430,514.

Although she and her husband technically have had plenty of time to think about where they'd go if they ever went on a honeymoon, they're not settled on a destination.

"I'm going to take a vacation with my husband that will finally be our honeymoon," Bach affirmed. "I haven't decided where yet."

Aside from spending her winnings on their honeymoon, she'll use the other part of her prize to pay some bills.

The $50 "$10 Million Spectacular" scratch-off game has had a nearly two-year run since its debut in December 2023, and although it is ending next month, there are still prizes available. All five top prizes of $10 million have been won, leaving one out of 20 second-tier prizes of $1 million and one out of 20 third-tier prizes of $100,000 remaining.

The overall odds of winning any prize in the game are 1 in 3.11.