Store's shortage of woman's preferred lottery tickets earns her $200,000

Nov. 5 (UPI) -- A North Carolina woman said a gas station being out of her preferred scratch-off lottery ticket -- and her backup choice -- led to her winning a $200,000 jackpot.

Veronica Burt, of Raleigh, told North Carolina Education Lottery officials she stopped at the Murphy USA station in Apex after work to gas up her vehicle and went inside to buy a lottery ticket.

"I was looking for another ticket," Burt said. "They didn't have it, so I asked the clerk for another ticket. They didn't have that one either, so I asked her, 'What do you have?' I ended up getting one Spectacular Riches ticket and two Ruby Mine tickets."

Burt said she took the tickets home and gave the two Ruby Mine 9X tickets to her father to scratch off.

"The next thing I knew I heard my name being called," the player recalled. "He screamed my name twice -- real loud! He handed the ticket to me. I had to look and then I had to look again."

The ticket was a $200,000 winner.

"We just started hugging," Burt said.

Burt said her winnings will allow her to pay bills and save for retirement.