Cherryville woman wins $2 million on "Ruby Red 7's"

Willie McCluney of Cherryville won a $2 million top prize on a $20 Ruby Red 7's scratch-off, the North Carolina Education Lottery said Wednesday. She bought the ticket at Delview Mart on Delview Road in Cherryville.

When McCluney arrived at lottery headquarters on Monday, she had two choices: $100,000 a year for 20 years (annuity) or a lump sum of $1.2 million. She took the lump sum and, after required state and federal withholding, received $864,126. Gaston County received $14.2 million in lottery money for education programs, the lottery said.

Ruby Red 7's went on sale in August 2025 with three $2 million top prizes and nine $100,000 prizes in about 5.1 million tickets. One of each is left. In August 2025, a Hamlet mother of six won one of the top prizes, WBTV reported, and took home just over $861,000 after the lump sum and taxes. About 83% of the tickets have sold, so a ticket bought now has about a 1 in 881,000 chance at the last $2 million prize, against 1 in 1.7 million when the game launched.

The game returns 77.3% of sales as prizes, fourth among North Carolina's 13 active $20 tickets and above their 76.5% average. With most of its big prizes gone, it rates 58.7 on our ValueScore™, seventh of 13. North Carolina's other $20 scratch-offs include several newer games with all of their top prizes left.

Sources

North Carolina Education Lottery: Gaston County woman celebrates $2 million scratch-off win

WBTV: Mother of 6 wins $2 million lottery prize in North Carolina