He stopped for coffee on way to work — and scored $1 million NC lottery jackpot prize

A North Carolina man grabbed coffee before work — and scored a lottery ticket worth $1 million.

“I just kept looking at it to make sure I wasn’t dreaming,” James Floyd told the N.C. Education Lottery.

Floyd said he was heading to his job as a fuel technician last week when he decided to stop at a Circle K convenience store in Vass, near the golfing destination of Pinehurst and roughly 60 miles southwest of Raleigh.

While buying a cup of coffee, officials said Floyd also tried his luck on a $30 ticket for the Millionaire Maker scratch-off game.

“Threw it in the seat of the truck and said, ‘I’ll do it later,” Floyd told the N.C. Education Lottery. “And I scratched it that evening before I left work.”

That’s when officials said he discovered he’d hit the jackpot and was left in disbelief. Floyd, who lives in Moore County, chose to take his prize in a lump sum, keeping $424,509 after taxes.

“It feels great,” he said. “I’m thankful.”

Floyd plans to use his prize money to invest and to pay bills, officials said Tuesday in a news release.

It’s not the first time a pit stop has led to a big windfall in North Carolina.

In May, a man stopping for gas bought a scratch-off worth $100,000.

And last year, a nursing student was taking a coffee break when she bought her prize-winning ticket, McClatchy News reported.