RALEIGH — For the second time in the past three drawings, a ticket sold in North Carolina won a $1 million prize playing Mega Millions. The latest big winning ticket was sold in Tuesday’s drawing at the 39 Pit Stop on N.C. 29 in Henderson.

The first winning ticket was sold in the Tuesday, Nov. 6 drawing. The winner, Queenester Newman, claimed her prize on Tuesday.

Newman, a resident of Garland in Sampson County, plans to use her $1 million Mega Millions prize to make improvements on her home.

Newman said she “felt like she was having a heart attack” when she learned that her $2 Megaplier ticket was worth $1 million.

Newman also plans to use a portion of her winnings, worth $680,000 after taxes were withheld, to pay bills and save for the future. She purchased the winning ticket at the Piggly Wiggly on N.C. 24 in Roseboro.

To win a $1 million prize playing Mega Millions, the $2 Megaplier ticket must match all five white balls. The odds of winning a $1 million prize are one in 3.9 million.

Ticket sales for games such as Mega Millions have enabled the lottery to raise more than $2.58 billion for education initiatives statewide. Since the lottery began through June 30, 2012, Sampson County education programs received more than $20.6 million in lottery funds and Vance County received more than $12 million. By law, those funds pay for teachers’ salaries in grades K-3, school construction, prekindergarten programs for at-risk four-year-olds, and need-based college scholarships and financial aid.