Robert Moore of Blounts Creek said he drove around with a scratch-off ticket worth $250,000 for almost a week without even realizing it.

Moore bought the winning 20X The Cash ticket at the Cypress Station on N.C. 33 East in Chocowinity.

“I get tickets regularly,” Moore said. “Sometimes I wait to scratch them. I threw this one on the dash of my truck and just forgot about it.”

The home contractor didn’t think about the $5 ticket again until he cleaned his truck out several days later.

“I figured I should probably scratch it,” Moore said. “I couldn’t believe what I saw when I did.”

Moore claimed his prize Tuesday at lottery headquarters in Raleigh. After required state and federal tax withholdings, he took home $176,876. He plans to use the money to upgrade his home.

“I always work on other people’s homes,” Moore said. “It will be nice to work on my own for a change.”

Players can enter their “X The Cash” scratch-off tickets into one of four second-chance drawings for a chance to win $50,000. The deadline to enter the first drawing is March 31.

Ticket sales from games like 20X The Cash make it possible for the lottery to raise more than $650 million a year for education. For details on how $2.9 million in lottery funds made a difference in Beaufort County last year, click on the “Impact” section of the lottery’s website.