NC man's double luck: finds $20 and then wins $1m jackpot

Luck comes and goes but for one North Carolina lottery player, it struck twice on the same day.

Avery County resident wins $1m from Extreme Cash scratch-off ticket

Jerry Hicks is a resident of Banner Elk and the latest winner of a million-dollar prize from one of the North Carolina Education Lottery's scratch-off games.

The case of the Avery County man is exceptionally intriguing, considering that right before winning the top lottery prize, he found a $20 bill that was lying on the ground outside of a convenience store.

Speaking to Lottery officials, the lucky player said that he was at the parking lot outside Speedway when he found a $20 bill. The man collected the bill and then used it to buy a ticket.

Shockingly, this ticket brought him a hefty $1m win.

Last week, the Banner Elk resident visited the Lottery headquarters to claim his winnings from the Extreme Cash scratch-off ticket.

As it is usual for million-dollar prizes, Hicks was presented with two choices: collect a lump cash sum of $600,000 or receive an initial $50,000 payment followed by annuity installment payments for the next two decades.

Not unexpectedly, as confirmed in a press release from the Lottery, the man selected the lump cash sum option of $600,000.

Considering that there are state and federal taxes applicable to the win, in the end, Hicks collected $429,000 and change.

The lucky man was asked what he planned to do with the windfall.

"We are going to head straight to Golden Corral and eat everything they've got," he responded, adding that he would help his children and use part of the windfall for his retirement.

The fortunate winner purchased his ticket at Speedway on N.C. 105 in Boone.

He selected the Lottery's Extreme Cash scratch-off.

Recalling the events of the day, the man admitted: "They actually didn’t have the ticket I was looking for so I bought that one instead."

The scratch-off ticket game offers a range of prizes

Launched back in March 2020, the Extreme Cash scratch-off ticket offers players a chance to win a prize between $40 and $1m.

The ticket's cost is $25, and it offers overall odds of 1 in 4.21.

At the start, Extreme Cash offered nine prizes of $1m each, but since the latest win, only one such prize remains in play.

The odds of winning a $1m top prize are 1 in 2,017,650.

On the other hand, the ticket also offers tier two and tier three prizes of $100,000 and $50,000 respectively.

At the launch of Extreme Cash, there were a total of 30 prizes at tier two and tier three but now only one such prize remains in play from each tier.

Image credit: North Carolina Education Lottery