Covington woman captures towering $500K prize

ATLANTA — A half-million dollar Georgia Lottery prize has arrived for a Covington woman just in time for the holidays. Wanda Pitts, 49, played the instant game Right On The Money and won a $500,000 top prize.

Georgia Lottery representatives presented Pitts with an oversized check Wednesday at QuikTrip #0821, 11124 Highway 142 in Covington, the store where she purchased the lucky ticket.

“My niece and I were on our way home from shopping, and my niece said, ‘I feel very lucky. Let’s buy a lottery ticket,’ ” Pitts explained. “I stopped and purchased a ticket. When I saw the matching No. 14, I lost my mind.”

Pitts was overwhelmed with emotion when the store’s clerk confirmed the good news.

“I was crying. I was about to hyperventilate,” she said. “I was screaming and squealing, jumping up and down. I was excited.”

The lucky winner intends to financially help those in her family.

“I’m going to buy a new car and pay off my mortgage,” Pitts shared.

Since its first year, the Georgia Lottery Corp. has returned more than $14.8 billion to the state of Georgia for education. All Georgia Lottery profits go to pay for specific educational programs, including Georgia’s HOPE Scholarship Program and Georgia’s Pre-K Program. More than 1.6 million students have received HOPE, and more than 1.3 million 4-year-olds have attended the statewide, voluntary prekindergarten program.

WSBTV