According to officials, a guy from North Carolina purchased a lottery scratch-off ticket that earned him a $1 million top prize with a $20 cash he found on the ground.
According to a statement released by the NC Education Lottery on Friday, he discovered the bill last Tuesday outside a Speedway convenience store and gas station in Boone.
According to the statement, the winner took the money from the floor and used it to pay for the majority of his $25 Extreme Cash scratch-off ticket, which offers that top prize as well as immediate rewards of $40.
Jerry Hicks, the winner, hails from Banner Elk, a community in the Blue Ridge Mountains situated between two ski resorts. Avery County was severely affected by the flooding that followed Hurricane Helene last month.
Hicks had no intention of playing Extreme Cash.
“They actually didn’t have the ticket I was looking for, so I bought that one instead,” he stated.
Master carpenter Hicks chose to pay $600,000 up front rather than $50,000 annually for 20 years, earning him $429,007 after federal and state taxes, according to the lottery, which claimed Hicks visited lottery headquarters on Friday to claim his reward.
An inquiry for comment from Hicks was not immediately answered. According to the NC Education Lottery announcement, he told lottery officials he would use the money to support his kids and retire after more than 50 years as a carpenter.
According to the complaint, he declared, “We are going to head straight to Golden Corral and eat everything they’ve got.” Golden Corral is a buffet restaurant located in North Carolina.
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Cynthia Moore of Smithfield purchased a $10 ticket at a Wilson market and went on to win the first $1 million top prize in the NC Education Lottery’s Cashword scratch-off game, which was launched in August, according to lottery officials on Monday. According to a separate release, Cashword still has three more $1 million prizes up for grabs.
Lottery officials said in August that NC Education Lottery games have generated over $1 billion for public schools and other educational initiatives for the past two years running, helping the state spend over $15 billion on education each year.
