Kenneth Kiriazes of Zebulon bought a Lucky for Life ticket about a month ago, left it in his truck and, after finally checking it Sunday, was stunned to find a $25,000 a year for life prize waiting for him.

“I did that happy dance,” Kiriazes said. “Something like this is a blessing.”

Kiriazes, 64, bought his lucky $2 Quick Pick ticket for the Aug. 23 drawing from Swift Mart on Marshburn Road in Wendell.

“I was stunned,” he said. “I couldn’t sleep last night.”

A big fan of fishing, Kiriazes said he wants to put some of his winnings toward a fishing trip.

“I’m planning a Key West trip for April to do some fishing down there,” he said.

Kiriazes claimed his prize at lottery headquarters Monday and had the choice of receiving $25,000 a year each year for the rest of his life or a $390,000 lump sum. He chose the lump sum and, after required federal and state tax withholdings, took home $276,990.

In addition to his fishing trip, he said he wants to put a new back deck on his house.

Kiriazes won his prize by matching all five white balls in the drawing. The odds of winning the $25,000 a year for life prize are 1 in 1,813,028.

Lucky for Life is one of four lottery games in North Carolina where players have the option of buying their tickets through a retail location or Online Play, either through the lottery’s website or with the NC Lottery Official Mobile App. Lucky for Life tickets are $2 and drawings are held every night.

Ticket sales from draw games make it possible for the lottery to raise an average of $2.5 million a day for education. For details on how $65.1 million raised by the lottery made a difference in Wake County in 2021, visit www.nclottery.com and click on the “Impact” section.