Charlotte man thought he won $1,000. It was actually $100,000.

Air Force veteran Michael Buinicky of Charlotte is $100,000 richer, but he admits not realizing it at first.

Buinicky said he had just finished his shift at Carmax when he decided to stop by the EZ Mart on Monroe Road in Charlotte. While there, he bought a $20 100X The Cash scratch-off ticket.

Scratching the card quickly revealed he’d won something, but Buinicky figured it was $1,000. But the zeros kept adding up, he said.

“I just keep thinking, ‘What If I hadn’t stopped?’ Someone else could have bought that ticket. I was at the right place at the right time,” Buinicky said in a statement.

He says he plans to spend the money on his children.

“My son just got accepted to grad school in Europe and my daughter is saving for her first home,” Buinicky said in a statement. “I never thought I’d be able to help them like this.”

After required state and federal tax withholding, he took home $70,507.

Buinicky is the first player to win a big prize playing 100X The Cash. The game launched earlier this month with three $4 million prizes, six $1 million prizes, and six $100,000 prizes. Three $4 million, six $1 million and five $100,000 prizes remain.

This story was originally published February 14, 2018 at 10:09 AM with the headline "Charlotte man thought he won $1,000. It was actually $100,000.."