LELAND, N.C. — An unlucky start to a North Carolina man’s day turned upside down when he discovered he won a $2 million lottery prize hours after hitting two deer with his new car.
Anthony Dowe, of Leland, had an accident on his way to work, the North Carolina Education Lottery said in a statement Tuesday. It ruined his day, so he went back home, got into bed and went to sleep.
“Then I woke up and checked my tickets. I checked the fourth ticket and I saw the ‘4’ and then the next number and the next number and the next number,” he said. “I’m like, ‘Wow!’ It was just crazy.”
His winning Mega Millions ticket matched all five white balls. The odds? 1 out of 12.6 million.
Dowe took his ticket to a store and won $1 million. That prize doubled when the 2x Megaplier ticket was drawn.
“I went and showed my dad and my mom and everybody was happy,” he said.
On Monday, he claimed his prize at the lottery headquarters in Raleigh and took home about $1.4 million after taxes.
“It just feels great,” he said. “I’m just gonna fix things on my mother and father’s house and get my car fixed, pay it off, and pay my niece’s car off.”
The rest, he said, will go into savings.