Cary resident Richard Dooley and his wife will celebrate their 55th wedding anniversary a little early this year after he won \$100,000 in a second-chance lottery 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 the prize in the Millionaire Maker second-chance drawing, which offered one top prize of \$1 million, one prize of \$100,000, and twenty \$500 prizes. More than 4.1 million entries were submitted for the drawing.
“You’ve got to be in it to win it,” Dooley said. “We like to do the second-chance drawings.”
He learned he had won when the lottery called him. “It was really surprising,” he recalled. “We are delighted.”
This drawing was the third and final second-chance drawing for the Millionaire Maker game. Any Millionaire Maker scratch-off ticket qualified to enter.
Dooley claimed his prize on Friday at lottery headquarters in Raleigh. After state and federal taxes, he took home \$71,750.
He plans to share some of his winnings with his daughter and donate to the Raleigh Rescue Mission and several veterans’ organizations.
