ALBUQUERQUE – Amanda Gunnels of Roswell calmly told her husband three times that she had won a lottery prize. And three times W.R. Gunnels responded with “that’s good.”
Finally, the slightly annoyed winner told her husband to get his glasses and look at the lucky ticket.
Above: pictured is Amanda Gunnels, winner of the uScratch ticket prize
“She wasn’t acting like somebody who won $50,000,” W.R. Gunnels recalled for New Mexico Lottery officials in Albuquerque Thursday. “She was giving me the ‘$20-reaction.’”
Amanda Gunnels won the first of three $50,000 prizes in the New Mexico Lottery’s “uScratch” ticket designed to resemble the popular iPhone. Oddly enough, the player said the ticket was “calling out” to her in the store.
After she revealed the prize Tuesday evening and finally got her husband’s attention, Amanda Gunnels became giddy.
“I just couldn’t stop giggling,” she said. “I giggled all night long.”
The Gunnels said they plan to use part of their prize to pay off a car loan.
Amanda Gunnels bought her lucky ticket at Stripes No. 140 located at 1219 E. Second St. in Roswell.
Legislative Lottery College Scholarships
Since 1996, the New Mexico Lottery has raised $506.5 million for education and more than 75,300 students have attended college on Legislative Lottery Scholarships. As of the Spring 2011 semester, nearly 2,600 students from Chaves County have received $9.5 million in Legislative Lottery Scholarships.