A lucky man in the USA has revealed he had a hard time shutting an eye after he secured himself a lifetime lottery award with his family’s birthday dates.

Paul Caudill said he first thought it was a mistake when he checked his USD 2 (GBP 1.6) Lucky for Life ticket and saw he had won a USD 25,000 (GBP 19,663) a year for life prize on Friday, 11th August.

The lucky man from the city of Winston-Salem, North Carolina State, USA, said in a statement obtained by Newsflash from North Carolina Education Lottery: “I figured there must be an error. I couldn’t sleep the rest of the night.”

He added: “I’ve been playing the same numbers every day since the game started. The numbers are all different birthdays for people in my family.”

The grand win followed after Paul bought the ticket at a 1 Stop convenience store in the town of Kernersville, and matched all five white balls in the drawing.

Upon visiting lottery headquarters on Monday (14th August), the lucky player was given the option to choose between receiving USD 25,000 (GBP 19,663) a year for the rest of his life, or a USD 390,000 (GBP 306,766) lump sum.

He chose a lump sum and went home with USD 277,879 (GBP 218,574) following state and federal taxes.

When asked by lottery officials about how he plans to spend the money, he said: “I can pay my house off now.”

North Carolina Education Lottery officials said: “Caudill became one of two players in North Carolina who matched all five white balls in the drawing.

“The other ticket came from Charlie’s Tobacco Outlet on Eastchester Drive in High Point.”

“Lucky for Life is one of six lottery games in North Carolina where players have the option of buying their tickets through a retail location or Online Play.

“Lucky for Life drawings are held every night. The odds of winning the USD 25,000 [GBP 19,663] a year for life prize are 1 in 1.8 million.”