For Benny Bowles of Charlotte, a gut feeling led him to a $1 million lottery win.

Bowles stopped by the Quik Trip on East Long Avenue in Gastonia to cash in some winning lottery tickets. Before he left, he ended up trying his luck in the Ultimate Millions game.

“Something just told me to buy three tickets instead of two,” Bowles said. “I wasn’t going to, but then I was at the register and I had the thought to get three again.” He did, and when he scratched the third ticket he won $1 million.

“I was in disbelief,” Bowles said. “I kept thinking I had the wrong numbers.”
He immediately called his family to share the news.

“When I called my brother, I put the phone to my side and screamed as loud as I could, ‘I just won a million dollars,’” Bowles said. “Of course he didn’t believe me.”

Bowles claimed his prize Monday at lottery headquarters in Raleigh. He had the choice of taking a $1 million annuity that has 20 payments of $50,000 a year or a lump sum of $600,000. He chose the lump sum and after federal and state tax withholdings, received $414,558. He plans to save the money.

“I’m pretty lucky,” said Bowles, owner of Green Meadows Golf Course in Mt. Holly. “Players come in and hope that my good luck will rub off on them. I’ve had players win big playing Cash 5, the Powerball, and other games.”

He says the secret to his luck is positive thinking. “When I play, I think I’m going to win, and I do,” Bowles said.

Ultimate Millions launched in September 2015 with four top prizes of $10 million and 18 prizes of $1 million. One $10 million prize and three $1 million prizes remain.

Ticket sales from games like Ultimate Millions made it possible for the lottery to raise more than $634 million dollars for the state last year. For details on how lottery funds have made a difference in Mecklenburg County, click on the “For Education” section of the lottery’s website.