Sandra Smith plays the lottery on occasion.

But it wasn’t until the Memorial Day weekend that she ever imagined she’d be able to plan for the future with her winnings.

With a scratch-off ticket purchased at Neighborhood Convenience Store in downtown Dawsonville, the local grandmother became the latest in a growing list of $150,000 grand prize winners.

“I was stunned,” she said last week. “I still can’t believe it.”

Smith said her husband Donald gave her the ticket for her 51st birthday.

“He’s been real sick, and he said that was to take care of me when he’s gone,” she said fighting back the tears.

Smith said most of the winnings will be put in savings, but she said the couple planned to have some overdue fun first.

“We’re going to do something nice,” she said.

Since its first year, the Georgia Lottery Corporation has returned more than $11.7 billion to the state of Georgia for education. More than 1.2 million students have received HOPE scholarships for college, and more than 1 million 4-year-olds have attended the statewide, voluntary prekindergarten program.