North Carolina Woman Bursts Into Tears Of Joy Over Lottery Windfall

It's been a while since I wrote about a lottery win.  This one caught my attention because of the inspiration behind it.  I know that most of the time, I buy a ticket when I physically plan to buy a ticket.  It's almost never "spur of the moment" or "on a whim."  My wife will say, "Pick up a ticket while you're out."  I put it on my "to do" list and that's it.  I know, I'm boring.  And as a result, apparently, I never win.  I need to be more like Amy Douglas of Moore County.  Her inspiration recently led to tears of lottery joy.

Amy Douglas stepped to counter at the Price Mart in Sanford the other day and noticed "Diamond Deluxe" scratch off ticket from the North Carolina Education Lottery.  She tells WNCT-TV, "We bought it because it looked pretty."  Why not?  I mean I know there are those who study metrics of sales and winning ticket numbers and really make educated purchases when it comes to their scratch off lottery tickets.  However, at the end of the day, "...it looked pretty," is as good a reason as any in games of chance.  And then the tears of lottery joy came.

The $20, $2,000,000 Diamond Deluxe scratch off ticket got pretty in a hurry when she became $100,000 richer-instantly.  And she immediately burst into tears.  After Uncle Sam and the state of North Carolina got their taste, Amy Douglas walked away with $71,506.  Yes, the tears came BEFORE the taxes were taken out.  They were indeed tears of joy-not tears from how much taxes take out of a lottery windfall.

Granted, this is not "retirement money," but an unexpected 71 grand is life-changing none the less.  As in Amy Douglas being able to pay off her mortgage and some other bills.  How great is that?!  I'd burst into tears of joy too!

There are some states that are luckier than others. There is no doubt about it. North Carolina made the list of 15 lucky states in the United States, according to OLBG. Everyone has fantasized about winning the lottery, whether it's the Mega Millions or the Powerball. Whether you're planning a lavish vacation, buying a house, treating a loved one, giving to charity, or all of the above, when we buy a ticket we always have a little bit of hope and our imaginations go wild when we hear about the unclaimed winning ticket...

When it comes to winning big on the lottery, which states are the luckiest? To determine where in America has the greatest likelihood of winning the big bucks, OLBG analyzed all lottery winners in the U.S. with a jackpot of $300 million or more. You can see the top 15 states below.

California was ranked 12th luckiest state despite having the highest number of big lottery winners, primarily because the state has such a large population that there are very few lottery winners, and the average winning ticket for a California winner is only $190.5 million.

North Carolina has won a whopping $1.1 billion between both lottery winners, making its average winning ticket $550 million, the highest in the country. As a result of its higher population, North Carolina didn't quite capture the title by itself, with a lower percentage of its population winning than New Hampshire.

In terms of lottery jackpot winners, New Hampshire and North Carolina share the gold for the luckiest states. Residents in New Hampshire have won a total of $693.7 million, which is an average of $346.85 million per winning ticket. As one of the states with the highest percentage of people who have won over $300 million, New Hampshire has the third smallest population.