On a whim, John Bunn of Bailey decided to try his luck on an Extreme Cash ticket and walked away the winner of a $100,000 prize.

“I was on my way home and I decided to turn and swing by that store,” he said. “I just happened to pick that one at the right time.”

Bunn purchased his winning $25 ticket from On The Run on Bloomery Road in Bailey.

When he scratched his ticket and saw his prize, Bunn “didn’t believe it.”

“I just thought I was reading the wrong numbers,” he recalled. “I definitely didn’t think I won. It’s kind of unreal. It’s just one of those things that’s meant to be.”

Bunn claimed his prize Monday at lottery headquarters in Raleigh. After required federal and state tax withholdings, he took home $70,757.

With his prize money, Bunn plans to pay off his home.

Ticket sales from scratch-offs like Extreme Cash make it possible for the lottery to raise more than $725 million a year for education. For details on how $4.8 million raised by the lottery made a difference in Nash County last year, visit www.nclottery.com and click on the “Impact” section.