Cary resident Richard Dooley and his wife will celebrate their anniversary a little early this year after he won a $100,000 prize in a second-chance drawing on Wednesday.
“Two weeks from now we are hitting our 55th wedding anniversary,” Dooley said. “This is a nice early anniversary present.”
Dooley won his prize in the Millionaire Maker second-chance drawing. The drawing awarded one top prize of $1 million, one prize of $100,000, and 20 $500 prizes. There were more than 4.1 million entries in the drawing.
“You’ve got to be in it to win it,” he said. “We like to do the second-chance drawings.”
Dooley found out he won his big prize when he received a phone call from the lottery.
“It was really surprising,” he recalled. “We are delighted.”
The drawing was the third and final second-chance drawing in the Millionaire Maker game. Any Millionaire Maker scratch-off ticket was eligible for the drawing.
Dooley claimed his prize Friday at lottery headquarters in Raleigh and, after required state and federal tax withholdings, took home $71,750.
He plans to share his winnings with his daughter and donate to Raleigh Rescue Mission and several veterans organizations.
For details on how $62.7 million raised by the lottery made a difference for education programs in Wake County last year, visit www.nclottery.com and click on the “Impact” section.