A double dose of luck led to Joseph Rose of Morehead winning $150,000 playing the Wheel of Fortune scratch-off game.

Rose’s first encounter with good luck happened Friday when he said he won $150 on scratch-off tickets. The next day he decided to try his luck again and bought the $5 Wheel of Fortune ticket.

Rose was talking to a friend at the Handy Mart on Arendell Street in Morehead City when he realized he won.

“I was like, ‘Holy Cow, dude, tell me if I’m seeing this right,’” Rose said. “I was, and he was like, ‘Yes, yes you are.’”

Rose bought the ticket Saturday but waited until Tuesday to claim his prize at lottery headquarters in Raleigh.

“It’s been a long three days,” Rose said. “But I’m pumped!”

After required state and federal tax withholdings he received $103,876. He plans to use some of the money to get a new truck.

Wheel of Fortune launched in June with three top prizes of $150,000. One top prize remains. Players also have the chance to enter a second-chance drawing to win one of four trips to Los Angeles to play a non-broadcast version of Wheel of Fortune. Two winners were selected Wednesday, and the next drawing is scheduled for Aug. 10.

Ticket sales from games like Wheel of Fortune made it possible for the lottery to raise more than half a billion dollars for the state last year. For details on how almost $21.2 million in lottery funds has made a difference in Carteret County, click on the “For Education” section of the lottery’s website.