2 NC residents start holiday with a bang, win big lottery prizes

RALEIGH, N.C. (WTVD) -- Two lucky lottery players in North Carolina got the Fourth of July off to a bang with big jackpot wins.

In Elm City, down in the Wilson area, Cesaltina Ribeiro bought a $1 Outlaw's Loot digital instant ticket and instantly won a Grand Fortune jackpot of $4.7 million on Thursday.

She said she immediately called her children after winning a $1 digital instant won her a $4.7 million jackpot on Thursday, the second largest digital instant prize in North Carolina lottery history.

"I got them on a video call and told them, 'We are millionaires,'" Ribeiro said.

Ribeiro, a mother of five and new grandmother, said her kids got nervous at first when she called.

"I kept yelling so they didn't know what was going on," she said with a laugh.

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Ribeiro said she was at home in bed when she played the spin that changed her life.

"It's an amazing feeling," she said. "Now I can do a lot more."

The odds of that win were 1 in 50 million.

Ribeiro claimed her prize Monday at lottery headquarters and, after required federal and state tax withholdings, took home $3,374,512.

She said she will invest, go on a family vacation, and buy a house for her family.

Outlaw's Loot is a multi-state digital instant game offered now by lotteries in North Carolina, Virginia and Pennsylvania. After Thursday's big win, the jackpot reset at $150,000 and continues to climb.

The second win happened in Thursday's Cash 5 drawing. A lucky person who bought the winning ticket at the Maggie Valley Mart on Soco Road in Maggie Valley took home the $318,544.

The odds of winning a Cash 5 jackpot are 1 in 962,598.

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