Husband wins big NC lottery prize — but his wife will decide how to spend it

William Wheeler may have set some kind of record for claiming and losing a lottery prize in the same breath.

Wheeler, who lives in Newton, beat odds of 1 in 1,521,132 when he won $100,000 in the North Carolina Education Lottery, then quickly decided the money wasn’t his to spend.

That’s because he’s married.

“I’ll just give the money to my wife and let her figure out what to do with it,” Wheeler said in a lottery news release. “Whatever she decides is fine with me.”

He won with a $50 ticket in the $8 Million Money Maker scratch-off game, purchased at Fast Phil’s in Statesville, lottery officials said. Prizes of $100,000 are second-tier wins in the game. The top prize of $8 million comes only after beating intimidating odds of 1 in 3,042,264.

Wheeler went to lottery headquarters in Raleigh on Tuesday, Sept. 16, to get his cash, and the check came to $71,764 after federal and state withholdings, officials said.

So how will he — or rather, she — spend the money?

“His wife will likely share some of their winnings with their three daughters,” the lottery reported.

If split evenly, that’s $23,921.33 per daughter.

This is not the first time Wheeler has won money in the state lottery, which might be why he knows the marital guidelines so well. However, none of his past wins were this big, officials said.

“I am very, very lucky,” he told lottery officials.

Newton is a 167-mile drive west of Raleigh.

This story was originally published September 17, 2025 at 7:24 AM with the headline "Husband wins big NC lottery prize — but his wife will decide how to spend it."