“I always said to myself I just want to win enough to pay my house off,” Matthew Wolfe, a Sophia resident, told the N.C. Education Lottery. “And now I can.”
Wolfe got richer after he entered his scratch-off ticket into the Multiply The Cash Second Chance drawing. He beat more than 51 million other entries to win the top prize of $400,000, lottery officials wrote in a news release.
“Needless to say, I didn’t get much sleep last night,” Wolfe told the lottery April 4, the day after the drawing. “It’s still hard for me to believe that it’s real.”
Wolfe, who enjoys trying his luck on second-chance drawings, discovered the big win when he read his email. He kept $286,000 after taxes.
“I never thought in a million years this would happen but look at me now,” Wolfe said. “This is life-changing.”
Sophia is in Randolph County and a roughly 20-mile drive south from Greensboro.
Though Wolfe knew what he would do with his windfall, other lottery players haven’t been so decisive. In South Carolina, a recent winner hadn’t decided how he wanted to spend his prize money, McClatchy News reported.
Many people can gamble or play games of chance without harm. However, for some, gambling is an addiction that can ruin lives and families.
If you or a loved one shows signs of gambling addiction, you can seek help by calling the national gambling hotline at 1-800-522-4700 or visiting the National Council on Problem Gambling website.
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