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North Carolina lottery couple beat clock to claim $1m
Thursday February 17th 2011With just a matter of hours to go until their winning Mega Millions lottery ticket expired, a couple from North Carolina finally decided to come forward and calmly collect their $1million prize. Erin and Raleigh Hill, who live in Stallings, Mecklenburg County, matched five numbers in the Mega Millions draw on August 20, but held onto their ticket for 179 days. If the couple had waited just a few hours more before coming forward they would have been told their lottery ticket was no longer valid.
According to Mr Hill, he waited first of all to tell his wife and then found he simply wasn’t ready to handle all the attention.
He said: "It wasn’t about the money, it was the attention. The hoopla. You can’t describe it. I was overwhelmed. Nervous."
Thankfully the pair did finally decide to validate their ticket and are now thinking about how to spend their fortune.
Another couple, who live in Charlotte, North Carolina, also came forward to collect their lottery winnings this week after a lengthy wait. The pair, who did not want to be named, won a $200,000 prize in a Powerball draw, but failed to turn their lotto ticket over to officials for 45 days.
When quizzed over the delay, the couple said: "We were waiting for the right day."