A second-chance for luck just paid off for Burrell Cleveland Jr. of Matthews when his entry into a 2021 Multiply The Cash second-chance drawing won him the $100,000 top prize.
“I’m still surprised that I’m sitting here!” said Cleveland. “I looked down at my phone to check emails and was like, ‘what?’ It caught me totally off guard.”
He originally thought the email was notification that he had been entered into the drawing, not that he’d won. His entry was chosen from 18,779,037 entries in last Wednesday’s drawing. Winners of second-chance drawings receive a phone call or email notifying them that they won.
What made this win so special to Cleveland was knowing that his late wife would’ve loved to be there for it too.
“We played the lottery together,” he recalled. “And I always told her, ‘one day we’re gonna drive to Raleigh and pick up our money.’”
Cleveland did just that. He claimed his prize Tuesday at lottery headquarters in Raleigh. After federal and state tax withholdings, he took home $70,750.
“It was nice driving in today because I could see her there sitting next to me in the car – in spirit,” he said. “Here we did it. We’re here.”
He says he’ll do what he and his wife always talked about doing with the money. Put it in savings for retirement.
Cleveland’s also got a birthday coming up in a few days. To celebrate that and his big win, he’s going to treat himself to dinner at Texas Roadhouse.
Two more 2021 Multiply the Cash second-chance drawings remain. Each drawing offers one $100,000 top prize, eight $5,000 prizes, and 25 $500 prizes. To enter the next drawing, enter your Multiply the Cash tickets via the lottery’s website or scan the ticket’s bar code using the NC Lottery Official Mobile App, like Cleveland did.
Ticket sales from scratch-off games like Multiply the Cash make it possible for the lottery to raise more than $725 million per year for education. For details on how $60.5 million raised by the lottery made a difference in Mecklenburg County in 2020, visit www.nclottery.com and click on the “Impact” section.
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