The retirement account of Rodney Starks just got bigger with the addition of a $496,756 jackpot from the Carolina Cash 5 game.

Starks, who owns a cleaning service in Fayetteville, said he knew Sunday morning he had a couple of numbers right. But it wasn’t until later that night when he finished watching his favorite football team, the Dallas Cowboys, beat the Seattle Seahawks, that he realized he had matched all five.

“I had to double-check,” Starks said. “I looked at it, and then I looked at it again, and then I looked to see if I had to share it.”

Starks bought five tickets, choosing his own numbers for each one, at the Short Stop on South Main Street in Hope Mills. One of the five was the only one in the state to beat odds of 1 in 575,757 to win the jackpot in the Saturday drawing. He said he begins playing Cash 5 when the jackpot crosses a $150,000 threshold.

Asked about his plans for his win, Starks said, “Save for retirement.”

After state and federal taxes were withheld, Starks received a check for $343,756. Carolina Cash 5 drawings occur nightly at 11:22 p.m. Tickets cost $1 each and jackpots start at $50,000.

Ticket sales have made it possible for the lottery to raise more than $3.4 billion for the state. North Carolina Education Lottery net proceeds will be used this year to help pay salaries of teachers and teacher assistants, for pre-kindergarten programs for at-risk four-year-olds, school construction and repair, and need-based college scholarships and financial aid.

For details on how more than $115 million in lottery funds have made a difference in Cumberland County, click on the “Where the Money Goes” tab on the lottery’s website.