‘I’m gonna help some people.’ $250,000 NC lottery winner wants to put community first

With a few bucks and a lot of luck, a Wilmington man is $250,000 richer, the North Carolina Education Lottery announced Thursday, but he doesn’t want to keep it all for himself.

Dennis Nagle, a retired car salesman, bought a pair of $5 Gold Rush tickets Tuesday at the Gas Center on Market Street in Wilmington, stepped outside and started scratching. One was a dud, the other was a life-changer.

Stunned, Nagle rushed back inside to get a second opinion.

“Is this for real?” he asked the clerk. “Yes!” they said.

Holding a small fortune in his hands, he began to wonder what to do, and decided on something that many might not.

“What I could do with the money,” Nagle recalled. “Which would be something good. I’m not gonna go buy a new car, I’m gonna help some people.”

Nagle claimed his prize the same day at the lottery headquarters in Raleigh, according to an N.C. lotto release. After taxes, he walked away with $176,876.

“Gotta spread the wealth,” Nagle said. “If I can do something for somebody, I’m going to.”

The $250,000 Gold Rush game was launched in August. Two of the quarter-million top prizes have been won, and three more grand prize tickets remain.