Jerry Hicks has worked as a master carpenter for more than half a century. Now, he is retired after finding a $20 bill on the ground outside a gas station – and turning it into $1 million winning the lottery.

“I found $20 in the parking lot outside the Speedway,” Hicks told him North Carolina Lottery. “I used it to buy the ticket.”

Hicks, a Banner Elk resident, bought the Extreme Cash Speedway scratch-off ticket on NC 105 in Boone last week.

“They actually didn't have the ticket I was looking for, so I bought it instead,” he said.

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Hicks said he will use the earnings to retire after working as a carpenter for 56 years, and also plans to help his children. But there is one thing he is doing first.

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

reports CBS that Hicks received the lump sum option, which was $600,000 ($429,007 after state and federal withholding taxes), in lieu of an annuity of $50,000 per year for 20 years.

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