Man went to the Ballantyne Harris Teeter for a prescription, brought home a jackpot
A Charlotte man went to pick up a prescription at his Harris Teeter grocery store in Ballantyne and decided to buy a scratch-off ticket in the lottery vending machine at the store.
He’s glad he did, as he returned home a $1 million jackpot winner, North Carolina Education Lottery officials said Wednesday.
“I thought to myself, ‘My life just changed,’” Patrick Burdick told officials at lottery headquarters in Raleigh, where he claimed his prize on Wednesday, according to a lottery news release.
“It was like a dream, because I had dreamt of that moment.” he said.
Burdick was in his car outside the store on John J. Delaney Drive when he scratched his $10 Power 10s ticket, first revealing a “MIL,” then a “$1” in front of it.
When he saw the “$1MIL,” he knew he’d won $1 million and thought, “I just got a free retirement.”
“Life just changed,” he said to himself.
Burdick beat odds of 1 in 3.57 million, according to the lottery website.
’The private mortgage banker plans to pay off his car and all other bills, and invest the rest of his earnings.
He could choose between an annuity of 20 payments of $50,000 a year and a 600,000 lump sum, according to the lottery. He chose the lump sum and took home $424,503 after taxes.
The Power 10s game debuted in July with four top prizes of $1 million. One top prize remains, officials said.