Felton McKoy Jr. of Upper Marlboro, Md. said he hopes to inspire people to believe in second chances after he won $200,000 in a second-chance drawing.

“I played for a long time but never knew about second-chance drawings,” McKoy said. “Someone told me about them about six months ago. Hopefully other people will be inspired to try too after seeing my win.”

McKoy found out that he won the grand prize in the Feb. 8 Multiply the Cash second-chance drawing when he got an email from the lottery. There were more than 81 million entries in the drawing.

“I was sitting in the parking lot getting ready to go in the grocery store when the email came in,” he said. “I was so excited I never made it into the store.”

McKoy, a native of Greensboro, said he still has family in the area so he visits frequently.

“North Carolina really is home for me,” he said. “I love the scratch-offs here too. I really only buy them in North Carolina.”

He arrived at lottery headquarters Tuesday to collect his prize and, after required state and federal tax withholdings, took home $142,500. He said he will use his winnings to pay some bills.

Players get a second chance with their Multiply the Cash tickets by scanning the tickets into their lottery accounts where they are automatically entered into the next drawing. McKoy won the last of four 2022 Multiply the Cash second-chance drawings. The first drawing in the 2023 Multiply the Cash second-chance promotion will be April 5.

Ticket sales from scratch-off games make it possible for the lottery to raise $2.5 million a day on average for education. For details on how money raised by the lottery made a difference in North Carolina last year, visit www.nclottery.com and click on the “Impact” section.