RALEIGH – Willie B. Tabron, a retired construction worker from Louisburg, plans to share with his family the $212,554 he won playing Carolina Cash 5 on New Year’s Eve, saying his real luck in life is his wife of 60 years and their children.

Tabron bought one of two tickets that matched all five numbers in the Dec. 31 drawing, winning half of the $425,108 jackpot. The other half was won by a retired social worker in Hillsborough.

“I play every day, but I don’t play but $1 a day,” Tabron said. “I think it is a good thing to support education and maybe even win some money.”

For the last two months, Tabron said he has been playing favorite numbers built from dates important to his family, including some of the birthdays of his sons and daughters, a birthday of a brother and his anniversary.

“Doesn’t it make you happy when your children are happy,” Tabron said of his plans to share his winnings.

The win came just a week before he will celebrate his 60th wedding anniversary. Tabor received a check for $144,537 after taxes were withheld. He purchased the winning ticket at Royal Food Mart on N.C. 39 North in Louisburg.

Since the lottery began through June 30 of this year, Franklin County education programs received more than $9.8 million in lottery funds. By law, those funds pay for teachers’ salaries, school construction, need-based college scholarships and prekindergarten programs. Players in Franklin County have won more than $27.3 million in prizes since the lottery’s inception.

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