A woman scooped a USD 500,000 lottery win after being commanded to buy a ticket by a spirit, she has revealed.

Lucky Stephanie Israel – from Browns Summit, in Guilford County, in the US state of North Carolina – reportedly bought the ticket just minutes before the draw.

She told the North Carolina Lottery: “It was late at night and I was lying in bed and the spirit just told me to go online and buy one.”

Stephanie, 39, added: “There was only four minutes left until the drawing.”

The following morning, she checked her emails and was stunned to see that she had won USD 501,544 (GBP 452,415).

Stephanie said: “When I went in and saw it, I screamed for like 20 minutes.”

She added: “I think I scared my family a little bit.”

The North Carolina Lottery said that Stephanie had bought her “Quick Pick ticket using Online Play on the lottery’s website, her preferred way to play because of the convenience of it.”

They added: “She arrived at lottery headquarters Monday to collect her prize and, after required state and federal tax withholdings, took home USD 356,147”.

Stephanie told the state lottery that her family is “full of entrepreneurs and she wants to use her winnings to invest in her family’s future”.

She said: “We are constantly thinking of new ideas for businesses.”

Stephanie added: “Our boys already have a landscaping business.”

The North Carolina Lottery said that Cash 5 is “one of four lottery games in North Carolina where players have the option of buying their tickets through a retail location or Online Play, either through the lottery’s website or with the NC Lottery Official Mobile App.

“Cash 5 tickets are USD 1 and drawings are held every night. Tuesday’s jackpot is USD 120,000.”