By Editor,Samantha Rutt

Copyright dailymail

A house cleaner got the surprise of a lifetime when she won a staggering $626,543 jackpot playing the lottery – all on her 40th birthday.

Chelsea Carter, from Ocean Isle Beach, won the Grand Fortune progressive jackpot in the North Carolina Education Lottery’s Monopoly digital instant game after playing a $10 ticket in the early morning hours of September 10.

‘This is insane,’ Carter said. ‘I’ve cried, I’ve laughed, it’s surreal.’

Carter said she was playing the game online around 2 a.m. when the jackpot hit.

Still in disbelief, she woke up her husband to share the news.

‘I was in shock,’ she said. ‘I started shaking my husband telling him to wake up. I go, “I just won $626,000,” and he laughed and closed his eyes.’

She claimed the prize two days later – on her birthday – at lottery headquarters, taking home $449,548 after required federal and state tax withholdings.

‘This is the best birthday present ever,’ she said. ‘I want to turn 40 every year if this is going to happen.’

Carter said she plans to invest her winnings, buy land, and set aside funds as a financial safety net for her three children.

‘It’s a blessing,’ she said. ‘Every day people can win something like this, and we did.’

The Monopoly digital instant game is available exclusively online via the NC Lottery Official Mobile App and website.

Players can wager from 50 cents to $30, and the Grand Fortune jackpot can be won at any time. The odds of hitting the jackpot on a $10 play are 1 in 5 million, according to lottery officials.

While North Carolina typically does not allow winners to remain anonymous, Carter said she’s simply grateful for the opportunity and what the win will mean for her family.

Following her early morning win, the jackpot reset to $150,000 and had already climbed to more than $390,000 as of Monday afternoon.

The NC Education Lottery, which launched in 2005, uses its profits to support education initiatives across the state, from pre-K programs to college scholarships. As of 2016, it had contributed more than $4.6 billion to North Carolina’s education system, according to its website.

Speaking to CBS News Philadelphia following a recent $1.8 billion Powerball win, financial advisor Rob Wilson shared advice for new lottery winners.

‘The biggest thing that you should not do in this situation is go and start bragging about your win,’ Wilson said. ‘I would tell your spouse, your accountant and your attorney, that’s it.’

Wilson also recommends hiring an attorney and working with at least two financial advisors – without granting either power of attorney.

‘You never, ever want to sign a power of attorney to any of those advisors, which gives them an undue amount of authority over your winnings,’ he added.