GREENSBORO -- A Greensboro restaurant owner has won a big lottery prize for the third time in just two years.
Ralph Havis, owner of Greensboro's Beef Burger, won $1 million this week playing in the 100X The Cash NC Lottery game.
Just last month Havis discovered he'd won the $500 cash scratch-off game. He won $150,000 in that scratch off, which was the same amount he won in another game in 2014.
Havis will receive $415,506 from this week's winnings, after taxes. He plans to share some of the money with his employees and put the rest in the bank.
Havis says playing the lottery is a way for him to remember his wife, Alma. The childhood sweethearts were married for 53 years before she passed away in January. He says getting scratch-off tickets was a tradition for the two of them.
Havis bought the $20 winning ticket at the Quality Mart on Battleground Avenue in Greensboro. Odds of winning the $1 million prize are one in 1.2 million.
Havis purchased the first two winning lottery tickets at the Pop Shoppe on Battleground Avenue.