A last-minute change of heart has recently earned a man USD 1 million after he purchased a scratch-off ticket at a petrol station.

Sales merchandiser Ray Flowers Jr., 66, from the city of New Bern near the North Carolina coast, USA, claimed he first considered buying one scratch-off ticket at the Fuel Market on 110 Riverdale Road.

But he then randomly changed his mind and bought a USD 10 (GBP 8.20) Jumbo Bucks instead, and got blown away when he saw that he had won the USD one million (GBP 820,000) jackpot.

Flowers reflected back on the winning moment and said: “Something just drew me to that one.

“I was probably more dumbfounded than anything else.”

He then immediately headed home to show his wife the ticket, who at first thought her husband was joking.

The 66-year-old lucky winner said: “She didn’t believe me. She thought it was a fake ticket.”

Flowers appeared at lottery headquarters in North Carolina’s capital Raleigh and claimed his winnings on Friday, 2nd December 2022.

Despite being able to choose the prize as an annuity of USD 50,000 (GBP 41,000) a year for a period of 20 years, he decided to go for the lump sum of USD 600,000 (GBP 493,000).

Flowers took home exactly USD 426,063 (GBP 349,806) following federal and state taxes.

He said: “I was very relieved because I’ve been thinking about semi-retiring and this will help with that.”

Aside from semi-retiring, the sales merchandiser said he will donate some of the money to his church, as well as help his family with the rest.