Max Bouldin and Deborah Prince of Trinity credit a feeling of good luck for winning a $1 million lottery prize.

“I don’t know how to describe it,” Bouldin said. “I just felt lucky.”

On Tuesday morning that lucky feeling led Bouldin to stop by the Murphy Express on South Main Street in High Point and get a $30 Extreme Millions scratch-off ticket.

“When I saw the ‘1’ and the top half of the ‘M’ I knew,” Bouldin said. “I was speechless. I had to look at it several times. I just feel so grateful.”

Bouldin immediately called Prince, his girlfriend of ten years, to share the exciting news.

“When he told me he won the lottery I thought, ‘Okay he’s probably won $1,000 or something,’” Prince said. “When he showed me the ticket I felt numb. I looked at it and said, ‘No! This can’t be real.’”

It was, and they claimed the prize later that afternoon at lottery headquarters in Raleigh. They had the choice of taking an annuity that has 20 payments of $50,000 a year or a lump sum of $600,000. They chose the lump sum. After required state and federal tax withholdings, they split $423,014. They plan to save and invest the money.

Extreme Millions launched in December 2016 with four $10 million prizes, and 22 $1 million prizes. One top prize and four $1 million prizes remain. Players can also enter their tickets for a chance to win $1 million in two more Extreme Millions second-chance drawings.

Ticket sales from games like Extreme Millions make it possible for the lottery to raise more than $600 million a year for education. For details on how $8.4 million in lottery funds made a difference in Randolph County last year, click on the “Impact” section of the lottery’s website www.nclottery.com.