A Burlington man got an early birthday surprise in the form of second-chance winnings. | PxHere.com
A Burlington man got an early birthday surprise in the form of second-chance winnings. | PxHere.com
Chad Wharton of Burlington just got a birthday surprise from an unexpected gift giver: the NC Education Lottery commission.
Just days shy of his 47th birthday, Wharton won the top prize of $150,000 in the Feb. 9 Holiday Winnings second-chance drawing.
“It was a great early birthday present,” Wharton told Newsbreak. "I never thought it would happen to me, but it happened.”
His entry was among a pool of 15.4 million second-chance tickets.
In North Carolina, as in some other states, people who buy scratch-off tickets that do not win a prize can submit the tickets with their contact information for occasional second-chance drawings, according to the NC Education Lottery website. Each particular ticket style carries its own parameters regarding the prize awards for the second chance to win.
Wharton, who works for UPS, visited the state capital of Raleigh this week to claim his prize at the NC Education Lottery headquarters.
He said he plans to pay bills and add to his investments with the more than $106,000 he cleared after paying taxes on the prize.
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