Derrick Suber of Charlotte said he nearly missed out on a $1 million win by throwing away his scratch-off tickets.

“I bought three Colossal Cash tickets and none of them were big winners,” Suber said. “I went to throw them away, but then I saw the second-chance heading. Until I read that, I didn’t even know there were second-chance drawings.”

Before throwing away his tickets, the electrical technician went to the lottery’s website and entered them into the $10,000,000 Colossal Cash Second-Chance Drawing. Players can enter winning and nonwinning tickets into second-chance drawings for a chance to win cash or other prizes.

When Suber found out he won $1 million he couldn’t believe it.

“I thought, ‘Is this really happening?’” Suber said. “This isn’t something that happens every day.”

He claimed his prize Thursday at lottery headquarters in Raleigh. Suber had the choice of taking an annuity that has 20 payments of $50,000 a year or a lump sum of $600,000. He chose the lump sum. After required state and federal tax withholdings, he took home $424,500. He plans to use the money to pay his student loans and mortgage.

“It feels great to have this second-chance,” Suber said. “To be debt free and not have to worry about this is a blessing.”

There are three $10,000,000 Colossal Cash second-chance drawings remaining. The game offers 25 prizes of $1 million or more. The top prize is $10 million.

Ticket sales from scratch-off games help the lottery raise more than $650 million a year for education. For details on how lottery funds are making a difference in all of North Carolina’s 100 counties, click on the “Impact” section of the lottery’s website, https://www.nclottery.com.