This week, a North Carolina lottery player found $1 million in cash on the ground outside of a store and won it all.
He told North Carolina Education Lottery officials, “I found $20 in the parking lot outside the Speedway.” Jerry Hicks is from Banner Elk. “That’s what I used to get the ticket.”
Authorities say that Hicks, a master carpenter, took the $20 and went to the Speedway on Boone’s state highway 105 on Tuesday night to buy an Extreme Cash scratch-off.
He told the officials, “They didn’t have the ticket I was looking for, so I bought that one instead.”
Officials asked Hicks what he plans to do first when he gets his money.
He laughed and said, “We’re going to Golden Corral right away and eat everything they have.”
Officials say that Hicks had to make a choice when he got to the lottery offices on Friday.
He could pick to get the win all at once or over the course of 20 years, getting $50,000 every year. He decided to get the $600,000 all at once. After state and federal taxes were taken out, he got $429,007.
Hicks told the police that he is going to retire as a builder with the money he won after 56 years of work. He’s also going to help his kids.