For Carnell Marlowe of Sunset Beach, Thanksgiving turned out to be his lucky day after he bought a winning Powerball ticket worth $2 million.

“I’m so grateful,” Marlowe said. “I’ve actually won other games before on Thanksgiving Day. Thanksgiving’s been good to me.”

He beat the odds of 1 in 11.7 million to win the prize in Saturday’s drawing.

When he realized he won he was a bundle of nerves.

“It was hard to believe,” Marlowe said. “My first thought was to hide my ticket.”

He did just that, but instead of hiding it in his house, he put it in his wallet.

“No one’s going to think I’d carry it around with me,” Marlowe said. “That’s the last place they’d look.”

However, Marlowe was so nervous carrying a slip of paper worth $2 million around, that he didn’t leave his house until Monday when he claimed his prize at lottery headquarters in Raleigh. After required state and federal tax withholdings, he received $1,385,000. He plans to use some of the money to pay bills. He’ll save the rest for retirement.

He bought the $3 Power Play ticket at the Minuteman Food Mart on Beach Drive South West in Calabash.

The numbers matched all five white balls to win $1,000,000. The prize doubled because he had a Power Play ticket.

Ticket sales from games like Powerball made it possible for the lottery to raise more than $634 million dollars for the state last year. For details on how more than $33.1 million in lottery funds has made a difference in Brunswick County, click on the “For Education” section of the lottery’s website.