RALEIGH – Jarvis Johnson Jr., a detention officer from Greensboro, said that though he is not a regular lottery player, something told him to purchase a Cash 5 ticket for the Sept. 6 drawing. A few hours later, his ticket matched all five numbers, winning the $226,039 jackpot.

“I had already left the store and gotten back in my car,” Johnson said. “I was about to drive off, but then something in my head said I needed to play Cash 5. I walked back in and bought five Quick Pick tickets and here I am.”

Johnson beat odds of 1 in 575,757 to win the jackpot. He learned of his win on Thursday night when he looked up the winning numbers on his phone.

“I was just about to fall asleep,” Johnson said. “I took a picture of my ticket and texted it to my wife. She thought I was playing around, but then I told her to take Monday off because we had to go pick up our prize money.”

Johnson plans to use his winnings, worth $153,706 after taxes were withheld, to pay bills and maybe take a Disney World vacation. He purchased his winning ticket at the Quick Shop Gas Stop on High Point Road in Greensboro.

The Cash 5 promotion that started Sunday offers players five extra chances to win as much as $50,000. The lottery will hold five Cash 5 Bonus Bucks drawings between now and next summer. In each drawing, five prizes will be awarded: One $50,000 grand prize, one $5,000 prize, and three $1,000 prizes.

To get a Bonus Bucks entry slip, a Cash 5 purchase of $5 must be made in one of two ways. A player can select five sets of numbers for one drawing on a single ticket or choose one set of numbers for five drawings on a single ticket. Along with the $5 Cash 5 ticket, an entry slip for the Bonus Bucks drawing will be generated at no extra cost.

Starting Sept. 9, entries will be valid for the first drawing to be held on Nov. 14. The entry slip received at the time of purchase must be kept and then validated at one of the lottery’s regional claim centers to collect a prize won in the drawing.

Since the lottery began through June 30, 2011, Guilford County education programs received more than $102.1 million in lottery funds. By law, those funds pay for teachers’ salaries in grades K-3, school construction, prekindergarten programs for at-risk four-year-olds, and college scholarships and financial aid based on need.

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