Matthew Wolfe of Sophia loves entering scratch-offs into second-chance drawings and on Wednesday it paid off with a $400,000 grand prize win.

“I never thought in a million years this would happen but look at me now,” he said. “This is life-changing.”

Wolfe found out that he won the top prize in the first 2024 Multiply The Cash Second Chance drawing when he got an email notification from the lottery. There were more than 51.59 million entries in the drawing.

“Needless to say, I didn’t get much sleep last night,” he laughed. “It’s still hard for me to believe that it’s real.”

He arrived on Thursday to collect his prize and, after required state and federal tax withholdings, took home $286,000. Wolfe said he already knows what he wants to do with his winnings.

“I always said to myself I just want to win enough to pay my house off,” he said. “And now I can.”

Players get a second chance with their Multiply the Cash scratch-off tickets by scanning them into their lottery accounts where they are automatically entered into the drawing. In addition to the $400,000 top prize, the drawing had four $20,000 winners and 10 winners of $500. The next drawing will take place on June 5.

For details on how $8.4 million raised by the lottery made a difference for education programs in Randolph County last year, visit www.nclottery.com and click on the “Impact” section.