Whenever you make a wish and blow out the candles on a birthday cake, you may hope for love, good health and maybe a bit of money. However, one man in North Carolina got a head start on his birthday when he scored a huge lottery win in a second-chance drawing.
Chad Wharton, a UPS worker from Burlington, recently tried his luck at the lottery. While his first try didn't win a huge prize, he ended up winning $150,000 in the February 9 Holiday Winnings second-chance drawing, according to a release from the NC Education Lottery. When he got the notification that he won a prize, he was anxious to see just how lucky he was.
"I was so nervous I just cross my fingers," he recalled. "When I opened it, I thought it wasn't real."
The win came at the perfect time, too, about a week before Wharton's birthday.
"It was a great early birthday present," he told lottery officials. "I never thought it would happen to me, but it happened."
Wharton claimed his prize at lottery headquarters in Raleigh on Thursday (February 25), bringing home a belated birthday present of $106,515 after state and federal taxes.
So what does he plan to do with his new winnings? Well, it doesn't look like a birthday party is in the works, but he told lottery officials he does hope to pay off some bills and invest the rest.