The Georgia Lottery presented 2 area winner's their checks in the Gazebo in Willis Park on Friday afternoon.

A multi-million dollar lottery win can help one Colquitt woman get back into school. Melissa Palmer, 34, won a $2.5 million prize playing the Georgia Lottery instant game Millionaire Jumbo Bucks.

"I'm planning to go back to school," she said. "I've always wanted to be a nurse."

She purchased the ticket at Kangaroo Express #3895, 401 Highway 27 N. in Bainbridge, and scratched it in the store's parking lot.

"I'm just shocked. I'm still shoctoed," she said. "I still don't believe it. I just kept looking at it." Her husband was with her, and he joined in on the excitement. "He was dancing around. He was so excited," she said.

A mother and stepmother to a total of five, Palmer said she first wants to purchase a new home then pay for her schooling.

Iron City man has 'Jingle' bell ball with $750,000 prize

An Iron City man can ring in the holiday season with a hefty prize from the Georgia Lottery. Larry Hill, 61, won a $750,000 top prize playing the instant game Jingle Jumbo Bucks.

The grandfather of 12 discovered that he had won the lottery prize while eating dinner at Bainbridge Truck Stop, 2331 Dothan Road in Bainbridge.

"We were getting ready to leave," he said. "I showed my wife, and she went nuts."

Hill, who also won $100 from the same game, showed the prizes to the store manager and the clerk who sold the ticket.

"They were more excited than I was," he said. "I'm still waiting for it to catch up to me." Hill and his wife, Robbie, have three adult children and are expecting another grandchild.

"We may do something around the house," he shared. "We'll have to wait and see what happens."

Since its first year, the Georgia Lottery Corporation has returned more than $1 1.2 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 .2 million students have received HOPE, and more than 940,000 4-year-olds have attended the statewide, voluntary prekindergarten program.