Malek Dabwan of Goldsboro got a call from lottery officials telling him he had won a prize, but he was skeptical at first, according to the North Carolina Education Lottery.
"I thought it was a robocall for a minute," Dabwan told lottery officials of the phone call. "But then you said my name and I got excited."
He went to claim his prize Wednesday and found out he had won $1 million in the lottery's $300,000,000 Supreme Riches Second-Chance drawing, according to the lottery.
His ticket was chosen out of more than 600,000 entries, according to the lottery.
When he found out how much he had won, he hugged his mom as lottery staff "burst into cheers and applause," lottery officials say.
"I'm a millionaire!" Dabwan, who manages a convenience store, said when he got his big check. "Nothing like this has ever happened to me. You put your entries in and then forget it for two or three months. I never thought anything would come out of it, but it did. I'm a second-chance believer now."
Dabwan had the choice of taking home a lump sum of $600,000 or a $1 million annuity with "20 payments of $50,000 a year," the lottery says.
He chose the lump sum and took home $424,500 after taxes, according to the lottery.
He told lottery officials he plans to use the money to buy a house.
Dabwan's was the second of four second-chance drawings in the game, according to the lottery.
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Many congratulations to Malek Dabwan! Enjoy home ownership.
Congrats on the win.
Why answer if he thought it was a robocall? That's what voice mail is for.
Nice feel good story to start my Birthday out right with! Congratulations Malek getting the phone call we'd all like to get!
I love this website ,but never joined until now, I would wager big coin that this guys 2nd chance entries were ones he took out of the garbage daily since he runs the store, my opinion, usually it is the $30 tickets that are used for 2nd chance milly giveaways. Who can afford many 30 tickets on a store managers salary? Too bad we will neve rknow how many entries he had! IMO.....
Whoa- birthday huh Jeff? Congrats!
Gamblinguy we are on the same wavelength, that was my first thought too. And the lottery knows it too, but what are they going to do. It's all the same to them.
Congrats