A North Carolina man received an unexpected windfall last week from a scratch-off lottery ticket he bought with $20 he found on the ground.

Banner Elk resident Jerry Hicks secured a $1 million prize from Extreme Cash's scratch-off ticket and opted to collect it Friday as a one-time payout of $600,000 – before taxes, the North Carolina said Education Lottery with. His after-tax profit was $429,007.

Hicks said he “found $20 in the parking lot in front of the speedway” in Boone on Tuesday and “used it to buy the ticket” that the lottery said won him the prize.

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

The largest prize offered on the $25-per-ticket Extreme Cash scratch card is $1 million. According to the lottery, the odds of winning $1 million on the game were 1 in 2,017,650 as of Monday.

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Hicks' post-victory plans included a visit to the local restaurant Golden Corral.

“We'll go straight to the Golden Corral and eat everything they have.”

The funds will also help Hicks retire from his 56-year career as a carpenter, the North Carolina Education Lottery said. He also wants to use the money to help his children.

Banner Elk resident Jerry Hicks secured a $1 million prize from Extreme Cash's scratch-off ticket and opted to collect it Friday as a one-time payout of $600,000 – before taxes, the North Carolina said Education Lottery with. His after-tax profits were (iStock / iStock)

A Michigan man hits the lottery jackpot the day after missing out on winning the big prize by just one number

Other North Carolinians pocketed six figures from lottery winnings that same week.

According to the lottery, a Gastonia man received $429,003 after taxes on $1 million he earned from a $10 scratch-off ticket. Another in Goldsboro won a $150,000 Powerball prize, which after taxes totaled $107,251.