North Carolina man wins lottery for 2nd time in nearly 2 years

ByYi-Jin Yu ABCNews logo
Thursday, March 30, 2023

Pharris Frank of Advance, North Carolina, won $1 million playing the lottery in 2021.

Nearly two years later, the construction worker and carpenter is a winner again -- and this time, his jackpot doubled to $2 million.

"I called my wife and told her, 'I did it again,'" the 41-year-old told the North Carolina Education Lottery.

Frank first won $1 million back in July 2021 after playing a $25 scratch-off ticket. He and his then-fiancee decided to save some of it at the time and put another portion of those winnings toward their dream wedding, according to NC Lottery.

Now, Frank and his wife hope to go on vacation with part of their second prize winnings, which Frank netted with a $20 scratch-off ticket. Frank decided to take the lump sum option and after taxes, he'll get to bring home $855,006.

A day before winning the lottery for a second time, Frank said he was talking to a friend and even had a premonition that he'd be victorious again.

"It's crazy because the day before I won, my buddy was asking me how it felt to win $1 million," he told NC Lottery. "And I told him that I was going to double it."

Even though Frank did indeed win, he said he still had a hard time believing it when he received the news.

"I didn't know if I was dreaming or not," he added. "I was just in shock for a while."

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