Lottery player starts shaking when she learns of NC prize ahead of birthday. ‘No way’

A mom’s birthday started early after she learned of her $100,000 lottery prize, North Carolina officials said.

Pamela Doyle of Zebulon decided to bring her big check home to surprise her kids on Jan. 15 for her 56th birthday, according to a news release by the North Carolina Lottery.

The Wake County woman won the prize in the lottery’s Season End Blowout drawing, which had more than 5 million entries, officials said. When she saw she won, she was in “huge shock.”

“I thought, ‘This can’t be real, there’s no way,’” she told officials. “All the way up here I was shaking.”

She went to the lottery headquarters on Jan. 14 to claim her prize and, after federal and state tax withholdings, was left with $71,750, the release said.

She plans to use the money to help take care of her mom, officials said.

“Things really do happen when you need it the most,” she told the lottery. “It’s been a few tough years and I’ve been wondering when we were going to catch a break.”

Zebulon is about a 20-mile drive east of Raleigh.

This story was originally published January 15, 2025 at 2:07 PM with the headline "Lottery player starts shaking when she learns of NC prize ahead of birthday. ‘No way’."