Conditions for the lottery win lined up perfectly

By Kate Northrop

BOONE, N.C. — A North Carolina man found a $20 bill lying on the ground and used it to buy a lottery ticket that won him a $1 million prize.

Finders keepers, one North Carolina lottery player thought as he picked up a stray $20 bill in the parking lot — only to discover later it would become worth $1 million instead.

Jerry Hicks was in the Speedway parking lot on N.C. 105 in Boone last Tuesday when he found a stray $20 bill on the ground.

"I found $20 in the parking lot outside the Speedway," Hicks told the North Carolina Lottery. "I used that to buy the ticket."

The master carpenter walked into the store and perused the lottery ticket cabinet, eventually settling on the $25 "Extreme Cash" scratch-off game.

"They actually didn't have the ticket I was looking for, so I bought that one instead," Hicks quipped.

It seemed everything had lined up perfectly for the Banner Elk resident that day - the $20 bill and the lack of his preferred game led to the moment he won a $1 million top prize.

Hicks visited Lottery headquarters in Raliegh on Friday to claim his prize and was faced with a choice: receive the annuity of $50,000 over 20 years or a $600,000 lump sum.

He chose the lump sum, and after state and federal tax withholdings, he took home $429,007.

The lucky winner shared with Lottery officials that the winnings will help him retire from a 56-year career as a carpenter and help out his children. But first, there is one thing he plans to do.

"We are going to head straight to Golden Corral and eat everything they've got," he laughed.

Hicks claimed one of the nine $1 million top prizes in the $25 "Extreme Cash" scratch-off game, leaving just one remaining. There is also one more second-tier prize of $100,000 out of 30 and one third-tier prize of $50,000 out of 30 left to claim.

The overall odds of winning any prize in the game, which launched in March 2020, are 1 in 4.21.