James Strickland and Teresa McCallister of Greensboro said a lucky $1,000,000 win will change a lot for them.

First, Strickland and McCallister plan to pay off bills. Then, once those are paid off, Strickland says he can finally buy his bass boat.

“I’ve wanted a bass boat for years and years and years,” said Strickland. “That was always the dream when I thought about winning the lottery.”

The couple’s good fortune happened when Strickland purchased an Extreme Millions scratch-off, a $30 ticket, from the Express Mart on National Highway in Thomasville.

“I always throw the losing tickets I scratch into my car floorboard,” Strickland said. “Then at the end of the week I check the stack again. I found this ticket in my loser stack, and I couldn’t believe it. I was all ecstatic and shaky. A million changes a lot.”

Strickland and McCallister claimed the prize Thursday 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.

Extreme Millions launched in December 2016 with four $10 million prizes, and 22 $1 million prizes. One top prize and three $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 instant games like Extreme Millions help the lottery raise more than $600 million a year for education. For details on how $30.9 million in lottery funds have made a difference in Guilford County last year, click on the “Impact” section of the lottery’s website.