Longtime Raleigh teacher wins $1M lottery prize: 'It was a big wow'

RALEIGH,N.C. (WTVD) -- A longtime Wake County teacher will have a more comfortable retirement after a huge lottery win.

Wakefield Elementary School kindergarten teacher Robert Vandenberg won the $1 million top prize in a second-chance drawing.

"This couldn't have come at a more perfect time," said Vandenberg, a Raleigh resident.

He found out he won his prize in the first of four $8 Million Money Maker Second Chance drawings when he got a notification from the lottery. There were 979,465 total entries in the drawing.

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"It was a big wow," said Vandenberg, who has taught for more than 30 years. "It was really cool."

Vandenberg arrived at lottery headquarters Tuesday and had two choices for receiving his prize: Either as an annuity of $50,000 for 20 years or a lump sum of $600,000. He chose the lump sum of $600,000 and, after required tax withholdings, took home $430,500.

"We are ecstatic about this," he said.

NOTE: Video is from a previous report.