ATLANTA – A winning ticket worth more than a half-million dollars was sold in Hancock County. Exxon Food Mart, located at 12820 Broad St. in Sparta, sold a winning ticket with a $550,000 top prize from the Georgia Lottery instant game $550,000 Grand Money.
The winner, Patricia Watkins of Sparta, claimed her prize recently at the Georgia Lottery District Office in Macon.
“I scratched it at home,” said Watkins, 57. “I called my daughter to make sure that it was true.”
A mother of three, Watkins is surprised over her windfall.
“It really shocked me,” she said. “It’s breathtaking.”
The lucky winner has no immediate plans for her winnings.
Since its first year, the Georgia Lottery Corp. has returned more than $14.3 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 1.2 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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