Christopher Mills of Winterville celebrated his second major lottery prize Wednesday when he won $200,000 in a second-chance drawing.

Mills previously won $100,000 in December of 2021 on a Winter Winnings scratch-off.

“I can’t believe lightning struck twice,” he said.

Mills found out that he won the grand prize in Wednesday’s 2023 Multiply the Cash Second Chance drawing when he got an email notification from the lottery. There were more than 47 million entries in the drawing.

“I was shocked when I got the email but I was overjoyed,” Mills said.

He arrived on Wednesday to collect his prize and, after required state and federal tax withholdings, took home $143,000.

Mills has twin sons who recently graduated with master of business administration degrees from Campbell University. He plans to use his win to help his sons finish paying for their education.

Players got a second chance with their Multiply the Cash tickets by scanning the tickets into their lottery accounts where they were automatically entered into the drawing. Mills won the top prize in the fourth and final 2023 Multiply the Cash Second Chance drawing.

For details on how $10.4 million raised by the lottery made a difference for education programs in Pitt County last year, visit www.nclottery.com and click on the “Impact” section.