He Found a $20, Bought a Scratch-Off, and Won $1 Million

Jerry Hicks has worked as a master carpenter for more than half a century. Now, he’s retiring after finding a $20 bill on the ground outside a gas station — and turning it into a $1 million lottery win.

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

Hicks, a Banner Elk resident, bought the Extreme Cash scratch-off ticket at Speedway on N.C. 105 in Boone last week.

“They actually didn’t have the ticket I was looking for so I bought that one instead,” he said.

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Hicks said that he will use the winnings to retire after working as a carpenter for 56 years, and he also plans to help out his children. But there is one thing he is doing first.

“We are going to head straight to Golden Corral and eat everything they’ve got,” he laughed.

CBS reports that Hicks took the lump sum option, which was $600,000 ($429,007 after state and federal tax withholdings), instead of an annuity of $50,000 a year for 20 years.

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