RALEIGH – A Carolina Cash 5 ticket worth $236,455 sat unclaimed in Ed Studebaker’s West End home for nearly two months before he realized he’d won the March 14 jackpot.

“The clerk at the store kept saying that someone had won a Cash 5 jackpot and that I should check my tickets,” Studebaker said. “I finally asked my daughter to check my tickets for me on Sunday. She called me at work the next day and told me I had won. I thought she was messing with me, but my wife confirmed it.”

Studebaker, a manufacturing engineer, is a regular Carolina Cash 5 player. Instead of having the lottery terminal pick his numbers for him as he usually would, he decided to fill out a play slip using the birthdays of his family members. He matched all five numbers, 1 - 3 - 4 - 25 - 27, to win the jackpot.

“I have always liked Cash 5 because the odds are better and it’s only played in North Carolina,” Studebaker said. “It’s my favorite game.”

Studebaker received a check worth $160,790 after state and federal taxes were withheld. He said he plans to use a portion of his winnings to purchase a fuel efficient car, take a cruise and pay bills.

“I’m so happy,” Studebaker said as he received his winnings. “I have the money in hand. It’s starting to sink in. It’s real.”

Studebaker purchased the lucky ticket at the Pinebluff Mini Mart on North Walnut Street in Pinebluff.

Ticket sales for games such as Carolina Cash 5 have enabled the lottery to raise more than $2.8 billion for education initiatives statewide. Since the lottery began through June 30, 2012, Moore County education programs received more than $15.1 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 need-based college scholarships and financial aid.