RALEIGH – Susie Tarlton’s practice of trying to have at least one ticket in each Carolina Cash 5 drawing paid off Jan. 4 when she and her husband, Danny, won the $138,454 jackpot. The jackpot is the largest awarded so far on a draw game in Stanley County.

On the afternoon of Jan. 4, Susie stopped at the Stanfield Mini Mart on West Stanly Street in Stanfield and cashed in a $5 prize on a scratch-off ticket. She used those winnings to buy five $1 Quick Pick tickets for the Carolina Cash 5 drawing to be held that night.

Susie, who works for an upholstery company, was getting ready for work the next morning when she called the NCEL’s toll-free hotline to find out if she had won. She said she was in disbelief when the fifth of her five tickets matched all five numbers.

“I don’t know if my eyes are playing tricks on me,” she said to her husband Danny.

“I was still half asleep,” Danny recalled. “I asked her, ‘What did we win, three or four hundred?’ and she said ‘No, we won a hundred thirty eight thousand!’”

After state and federal taxes were withheld, Susie and Danny each received a check for $47,074. Danny, who works for a tractor repair shop, said winning the lottery would make a big difference for their family.

“It’s not the Powerball jackpot, but in our lives, that’s a life-changing deal right there,” he said as the couple collected their winnings. “Maybe it’ll be a continuation the rest of the year.”

Since the lottery began through June 30, 2010, Stanly County players won more than $19.1 million in lottery prizes and local retailers earned more than $2.5 million in commissions on ticket sales.

During the same time frame, Stanly County education programs received more than $14.2 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.