Lottery player wins big in NC, returns to store to hug clerk who sold her ticket

An unusual display of pure gratitude played out in a North Carolina convenience store when a woman walked in and asked to hug one of the clerks.

Cassandra Stephens of Cornelius says she couldn’t help herself after discovering the store employee had sold her a jackpot-winning ticket in the N.C. Education Lottery.

It happened at Cashion’s Quik Stop on Statesville Road in Cornelius, and the 50X The Cash ticket was worth $339,703, lottery officials said in a June 10 news release.

“I went back in the store and hugged the lady who sold it to me,” Stephens told lottery officials. “I think I’m still processing that I won that much.”

Details of how the clerk reacted weren’t released.

That hug came after Stephens told her husband, who was in disbelief. “He thought I was lying,” she said in the release.

That response was justified, given the odds of winning a jackpot in the game are 1 in 320,000.

Stephens says she bought the $10 fast play ticket June 9 after getting “a good feeling.” The game has a progressive jackpot that keeps growing until someone wins.

“I listened to that little voice in my head telling me to get that ticket,” Stephens said in the release.

She went to lottery headquarters in Raleigh to get her prize, which came to $243,740 after taxes, lottery officials said.

Her plan is to use the money to pay bills — and go on a cruise.

Cornelius is about a 20-mile drive north from Charlotte.

This story was originally published June 11, 2025 at 7:20 AM with the headline "Lottery player wins big in NC, returns to store to hug clerk who sold her ticket."