RALEIGH – Alton Davis, an electrician from New Bern, plans to use the $235,788 prize he won playing Carolina Cash 5 on July 13 to purchase a new car for his wife.

Davis was at home searching the Internet for a new washing machine on Saturday when he decided to check his numbers.

“I saw that I had a couple of numbers and was happy to win my dollar back,” Davis said. “Then I saw the others. I kept staring at the numbers. I know I looked at my ticket and checked the date at least 25 times. This really takes the pressure off me a bit. I’m tickled to death.”

After taxes were withheld, Davis received a check for $160,336. He plans to use the remainder of his winnings to pay off his truck, invest for the future and buy a new washing machine.

He purchased the winning ticket at the Handy Mart on Martin Luther King Boulevard in New Bern.

Since the lottery began through June 30, 2011, Craven County education programs received more than $16.6 million in lottery funds. By law, those funds pay for teachers’ salaries in grades K-3, school construction, need-based college scholarships and prekindergarten programs.

To date, the N.C. Education Lottery has raised more than $2.45 billion for these initiatives statewide.