A stop for one lottery ticket won a Marshville man $1 million. On Monday afternoon, Gersain Gomez Perez bought a $10 Color of Money ticket at Sam’s Mart on East Independence Boulevard in Matthews and scratched it off in his car outside the store.

“I said to my friends, ‘Can you check this? I think I won $1 million!’” he recalled. “They were excited. To this moment I still can’t believe it.”

Winners of $1 million in the game have the option of claiming it in $50,000 payments as a 20-year annuity or a one-time lump sum of $600,000.

Gomez Perez, a poultry farmer, took the cash payment. He did not share immediate plans for his after-tax winnings of $415,203 – except to take his two kids to Disney World.

“It’s an amazing thing,” he said.

The Color of Money game started Jan. 7 with five top prizes of $1 million. With Gomez Perez’ claim, three top prizes and many other prizes remain to be claimed.

Ticket sales have made it possible for the lottery to raise more than $3.19 billion for education programs statewide. For details on how more than $66.7 million in lottery funds have made a difference in Union County, click on the “Where the Money Goes” tab on the lottery’s website.