Christopher Sink of Winston-Salem felt an urge to buy a $50 scratch-off on Thursday, and his instinct paid off with a $10 million win.

“Sometimes you have a gut feeling,” he said. “It just happened to be my lucky day.”

Sink, an owner of a construction business, bought his lucky $10 Million Spectacular ticket from KP Food Mart on Old Thomasville Road in Winston-Salem.

“I was really nervous at first,” he said. “It was kind of a crazy feeling.”

After staring at his ticket for a long time, Sink said he started to worry he might lose it.

“I didn’t want the wind to blow it away,” he laughed.

Sink’s big win marks only the second $10 million win in North Carolina so far this year. This win was not his first stroke of good luck though.

“I actually won $10,000 last week on a different ticket,” he said. “It’s kind of hard to fathom.”

When Sink arrived Thursday to collect his winnings, he had a decision to make. He could choose to receive his prize as an annuity of $500,000 a year over 20 years or a lump sum of $6 million. He chose the lump sum of $6 million and, after required state and federal tax withholdings, took home $4,305,014.

“I’m tickled to death about this,” he said.

Sink plans to use his winnings to pay bills, invest, and buy equipment to help his construction business.

The $10 Million Spectacular game debuted in December 2023 with five top prizes of $10 million, 20 prizes of $1 million and 20 prizes of $100,000. One $10 million prize, two $1 million prizes and four $100,000 prizes remain to be claimed.

For details on how $20.8 million raised by the lottery made a difference for education programs in Forsyth County last year, visit www.nclottery.com and click on the “Impact” section.