RALEIGH – Rodney Rhoades, a contractor from Newton in Catawba County, plans to pay off his mortgage and his auto loans with the $265,968 he won playing Carolina Cash 5. Rhoades matched all five numbers in the Dec. 7 drawing to win the jackpot. He learned of his win when he stopped at a local convenience store to have his tickets scanned.

“I play Mega Millions and Powerball every week,” Rhoades said. “I only play Cash 5 when it gets to be over a hundred thousand. I knew I had won but didn’t know how much until they scanned it. Felt pretty good.”

After taxes, Rhoades collected a check for $180,858. He purchased his winning ticket at the Kangaroo Express on East 20th Street in Newton.

“We live pretty good,” he said. “But I know we can use this money to make things easier later on.”

Rhoades is the ninth player to win the Carolina Cash 5 jackpot in Catawba County.

Since the lottery began through June 30 of this year, Catawba County education programs received more than $27.8 million in lottery funds. By law, those funds pay for teachers’ salaries, school construction, need-based college scholarships and at-risk prekindergarten programs.

To date, the N.C. Education Lottery has raised more than $2.1 billion for these initiatives statewide.