Tennessee man loses his $1MILLION lottery ticket - before finding it on the ground in a parking lot after a desperate search

 A Tennessee man who won big on the state lottery nearly missed his chance of claiming the more-than $1million prize after briefly losing his ticket.

Sparta native Nick Slatten struck it lucky twice after winning the lottery, then finding the missing ticket undisturbed in a local parking lot. 

Slatten bought the ticket on March 10 on his way home from laying tile in Smithville.  

When he checked the Tennessee Lottery app the next day, discovered it was worth $1,178,746.

'I was stunned. I couldn't believe it,' Slatten said in a press release from the Tennessee Lottery. 

'I can't express it. It was something else.' 

+2

Nick Slatten (right) nearly missed his chance of claiming the more-than $1million prize after briefly losing his ticket

Slatten said he rushed to his fiancée Michelle's workplace to tell her the good news and spent the rest of the day running errands, including taking his brother to an O'Reilly Auto Parts store.

About an hour after they made the stop, Slatten realised the ticket was missing.

'I couldn't find it anywhere,' he said.

After retracing his steps and returning to the store's parking lot, Slatten was relieved to find the ticket on the ground next to the driver's side door of another vehicle. 

+2

Following his win, Slatten said he and his fiancée will continue to work, but are planning on buying a home, upgrading their vehicles and investing. He said he hopes the money will allow them to live life with 'not a whole lot of worries' [Stock image]

'It's a million-dollar ticket, and someone stepped right over it,' he said.

Following his win, Slatten said he and his fiancée will continue to work, but are planning on buying a home, upgrading their vehicles and investing. 

He said he hopes the money will allow them to live life with 'not a whole lot of worries.' 

Slatten's ticket is one of five sold in Tennessee this month to be worth at least $1million, lottery officials said.   

Tennessee Lottery said it encourages players to sign their ticket after buying it 'to identify it as theirs and to help prevent someone else from cashing it, in the event that it is lost or stolen.'