Decision to switch up routine on the way to work wins NC man $1 million

A Charlotte restaurant manager’s decision to shake up his routine on the way into work is credited with winning him $1 million in the NC Education Lottery.

“It’s just unbelievable. It still hasn’t set in,” Michael Ferri said in a statement released by lottery officials.

Ferri struck it rich at a Circle K store on North Tryon Street in Charlotte, where he said he typically stops in every morning before work to buy a cup of coffee and one $30 lottery ticket, according to a press release.

“This time I decided to get some $10 tickets instead,” Ferri said in the release.

One of those tickets — known as a Hit $5,000 — was worth $1 million, lottery officials said.

Ferri, who manages American Burger Company in Charlotte, picked up his check Wednesday, opting for a $600,000 lump sum over 20 yearly payments of $50,000, lottery officials said.

After federal and state tax withholding, he took home $424,503, officials said.

Ferri said in a release that he intends to keep working and has only one big purchase in mind: a car.

“I have (an) old Mitsubishi that has over 230,000 miles on it,” Ferri said in the release. “I don’t need anything fancy, just something that gets me to and from work.”

His win marks the second time this month that someone has won $1 million with a lottery ticket purchased at a North Tryon Street convenience store. The other win was at a QuikTrip, and involved a man who had recently been diagnosed with Stage 4 liver cancer.

The man, Richard Beare, said he intended to spend the money traveling with his wife, according to a release.

This story was originally published April 8, 2019 at 4:24 PM with the headline "Decision to switch up routine on the way to work wins NC man $1 million."