North Carolina Woman Celebrating Big After Winning Lottery Twice In Two Months

Luck be a lady twice for a North Carolina woman who is celebrating her second lottery win in two months.  

Kenya Sloan of Shelby, North Carolina, won a $2 million prize from a $20 scratch off Diamond Dazzler ticket she bought in October, according to a press release from the North Carolina Lottery.  

She collected her prize last Thursday and opted to take a lump-sum of $1.2 million instead of a 20-year annuity.  After state and federal tax withholdings, Sloan took home $855,006, lottery officials said in their statement.    

Sloan said she stood in “shock” when she realized she had won again.  

"I just feel blessed.  That’s all I can say.”  

Her family shared in her surprise, Sloan said.  “They couldn’t believe it either,” she told the North Carolina Lottery commission. 

Sloan said she plans to use her latest winnings to realize her dream of opening her own soul food restaurant, the release said.  

She won her first $1 million back in August by playing the Carolina Jackpot, another scratch off game.  After that win—from which she took home $426,063—Sloan said she wanted to purchase her own home.  Since then, she has purchased land and is almost finished building a new house.  

The North Carolina lottery says sales from scratch-off games like the ones Sloan played make it possible for the lottery to raise more than $2.5 million a day on average for education.  In Sloan’s Cleveland County community, the state provided more $22.8 million in grants—paid for by the lottery—to help with school construction.