North Carolina Man's 'Great Morning' Leads To $1 Million Lottery Prize

A man in North Carolina is celebrating a recent "great morning" after a routine stop for gas and coffee before work ended with him winning $1 million.

Joshua Helton, of Gastonia, stopped by the QSC Foodmart on McAdenville Road in Lowell on his way to work when he decided to purchase a Spectacular Riches scratch-off lottery ticket, according to the NC Education Lottery. While he had always dreamed of winning a big prize, he was shocked to find that the lucky ticket earned him a $1 million prize.

"I walked back out there and pumped my gas, got back in my truck and scratched it off," he said. "I didn't really know what to do at the time so I just called my wife and woke her up, told her what was going on."

Still a man with a job to do, he briefly went home to tell his wife about his win before going to work.

"It was kind of a great morning," he told lottery officials. "I always hoped to win something big but I never thought I would hit a million dollars."

Helton claimed his winnings at lottery headquarters in Raleigh on Friday (October 29). He had the choice to either accept the $1 million prize as an annuity of $50,000 per year for 20 years or take a lump sum payment of $600,000. He chose the latter, bringing home a grand total of $424,507 after state and federal taxes.

So what does Helton plan to do with his newfound winnings?

"I'm going to pay off some bills and put some money back for my kids," he said. "That way they'll have something when they get a little older."