RALEIGH — A Greenville man won nearly $350,000 last week after his sister suggested he buy $1 Cash 5 and it paid off.
Ralph Mendenhall Jr.’s lucky Quick Pick ticket became one of three that matched all five numbers in Thursday’s drawing, the lottery announced on Wednesday.
“She told me that Cash 5 was over a million and said I should buy a ticket,” he said.
The other wins came from Smithfield and Raleigh. The three winners split the $1,041,753 Cash 5 jackpot. The odds of matching all five balls are 1 in 962,598.
“I had to read it like three times to make sure,” Mendenhall recalled. “It probably took like an hour to sink in.”
He bought his lucky ticket from the Sheetz on Portertown Road.
“It was a shock knowing I won that much,” Mendenhall said. “The most I’ve won before this is seven dollars.”
He took a picture of his winning ticket right away and sent it to his sister.
“I called her and told her to check her phone,” Mendenhall said. “She couldn’t believe it.”
Mendenhall claimed $347,251, his share of the jackpot, at lottery headquarters in Raleigh on Tuesday. After required federal and state tax withholdings, he took home $249,153.
He plans to share his winnings with his sister and daughters, pay off his mortgage, and invest the rest.
Cash 5 is one of six lottery games in North Carolina where players have the option of buying tickets at a retail location or with Online Play through the lottery’s website or the NC Lottery Official Mobile App. Wednesday’s jackpot is $197,000.
Education programs in Pitt County received $10.7 million in support from lottery funds last year. For details on how lottery funds have made a difference in all of North Carolina’s 100 counties, visit www.nclottery.com and click on the “Impact” section of the lottery’s website.
Bobby Burns can be reached at baburns@reflector.com and 329-9572.
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