"I'll just give the money to my wife and let her figure out what to do with it."

By Kate Northrop

STATESVILLE, N.C. — A North Carolina man who calls himself "very lucky" won $100,000 in the lottery, but he's going to let his wife decide what to do with the winnings.

One North Carolina man did the hard part — winning $100,000 in the lottery — but he's letting his wife have all the fun with the winnings.

William Wheeler of Newton plays the lottery and has won some nice prizes before, but now that he's won his biggest prize yet, he decided he wasn't going to be the one to figure out how to use it.

"I'll just give the money to my wife and let her figure out what to do with it," he laughed with North Carolina Lottery officials. "Whatever she decides is fine with me."

While making a stop at Fast Phil's on Turnersburg Highway in Statesville, he picked out a $50 "$8 Million Money Maker" scratch-off ticket. The game offers a top prize of $8 million, as well as second-tier prizes of $100,000.

He discovered he was fortunate enough to scoop one of those $100,000 prizes.

"When I told my wife how much I won, she was even more excited than me," he recalled in a press release.

He visited Lottery headquarters in Raleigh on Sept. 16 to claim his prize and took home $71,764 after federal and state taxes.

"I am very, very lucky," he added.

He couldn't say for certain, but he told the Lottery that his wife will likely share some of the winnings with their three daughters.

Following Wheeler's claim, there are now six out of ten second-tier prizes of $100,000 remaining in the $50 "$8 Million Money Maker" instant game, which launched in December 2024. There are also three out of five top prizes of $8 million and 23 out of 40 third-tier prizes of $25,000 left to win.

The overall odds of winning any prize in the game are 1 in 4.14.