One Covington woman anticipates having a ball with a win from the Georgia Lottery. Teresa Gailey, 51, won a $40,000 top prize playing the instant game Break The Bank.

With her winnings, the mother of four is gearing up to take a vacation. 

Publix Super Market #0744, 13015 Brown Bridge Road in Covington, sold the winning ticket. Gailey scratched it at home. 

“I started breathing really hard,” the lucky winner recalled. “I started jumping up and down on the bed crying.”

 In addition to vacationing, Gailey intends to pay off bills. 

Since its first year, the Georgia Lottery Corp. has returned more than $14.3 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 1.2 million 4-year-olds have attended the statewide, voluntary prekindergarten program.