A present she'll never forget
By Kate Northrop
STANLEY, N.C. — Small gestures may go a long way, but receiving a scratch-off lottery ticket worth $2 million is one that a North Carolina woman will certainly never forget.
Karen Urtecho Sandrez of Charlotte won $2 million from a scratch-off, but she was not the one who bought the winning ticket.
The ticket that Urtecho Sandrez was gifted was from the North Carolina Lottery's $20 "100X The Cash" instant game. A family friend purchased the winning ticket at Lucia Food Mart on Killian Road in Stanley.
"It's kind of surreal," Urtecho Sandrez told the Lottery on Thursday when she claimed her prize at their headquarters in Raleigh.
Neither the winner nor the friend realized that the value of the gift would be so high.
"I could not believe it, honestly," Urtecho Sandrez recalled of seeing the $2 million prize on the ticket. "You read it and you don't believe it."
The recipient of the once-in-a-lifetime gift chose to take the $1.2 million lump sum over an annuity of $100,000 a year for 20 years and took home $849,006 after taxes were withheld.
At the game's launch in December 2020, there were ten top prizes of $2 million available. Following Urtecho Sandrez's win, there are four top prizes remaining, as well as six out of ten $100,000 second prizes and 85 out of 160 $10,000 third prizes left to claim. According to the Lottery, the odds of winning any prize in the "100X The Cash" game are about 1 in 3.03.
Outstanding Karen !!!! Good for you...Congrats on the newly acquired wealth
That is definitely a great gift! Hopefully, they continue to remain friends after this. Money sometimes changes people, especially in a situation like this.
Hopefully, she shared a lil bit. I'll use about 10K to scout for more winning tickets
Christmas in July and not even in a stocking!
Certainly Karen will share some with her friend.
LP was long overdue for a feel good story of this magnitude.
where are my friends? lol congrtz
This is why I wouldn't gift a lottery ticket to someone else; I'm not magnanimous enough to want someone else to win on my dollar and ju-ju. If I were to gift a ticket to someone else, I would include a pre-scratch clause that if a certain amount or over were won, we would be partners in the winnings.
* Always gift yourself first. That way you won't feel bad when you win!--Nikola Tesla.
WOW
Pat, I would like to solve the puzzle,,, friend was an illegal and needed her to cash the scratch-off since she had proper I.D. I see it all the time at the Raleigh headquarters and NCEL is notorious for coming up with all those feel good stories.
This is a very interesting story. It is the type of situation that could test a friendship or solidify a friendship, depending on how it is handled in the coming weeks, months, and years. Congrats to the winner.
Hopefully not. Karen is a paralegal at a law firm and should know better.
Just as I thought, these reports provoke speculation, and how do we know if the facts are substantiated. I still have trouble believing the woman in Florida let that old bag get ahead of her in the lotto line and hit.
That's a good one, laughed my butt off especially the old bag part. Of course I put an 'H' in place of the 'B'.
Lost some good money today. 424 was on a mailbox riding with the pooch this morning and thought...umm, that sounds good. Did I play....heck NO....did it come in for mid-day...heck yeah.
A win is a win! Good for you Karen and be sure to tip your friend very well--that's what I would call "Top Notch Service" in the form of a gift--the person that gave it to you obviously thought you were worthy of a win no matter the amount.