A Sharpsburg cafeteria worker has cooked up a lottery win. Bobbie Eckert, 66, won a $1 million top prize playing the Georgia Lottery instant game Georgia Lottery's Cash Explosion.

Thomas Crossroads BP, 3079 E. Highway 34 in Newnan, sold the lucky ticket. The great-grandmother scratched it in her car and realized she had a winning ticket.

"I called my husband, and he didn't believe me," said Eckert, who works at Cannongate Elementary School. "So, I showed it to the clerk, and she began screaming. I showed the ticket to the owner, and she began screaming too. We all were in the store jumping up and down screaming. Passers-by congratulated me."

Eckert and her husband, Randy, have three children, nine grandchildren and one great-grandchild. The couple plan to retire.

"I'm as happy as I can be," she exclaimed. "My stomach is still in knots."

Since its first year, the Georgia Lottery Corporation has returned over $9.7 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 Prekindergarten Program. More than 1 million students have received HOPE, and more than 860,000 4-year-olds have attended the statewide, voluntary prekindergarten program.

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