RALEIGH – Jayoti Patel, a homemaker from Cary, is the most recent player to win $150,000 in the White Hot 5’s instant game. After buying the ticket at the Lake Wheeler Quality Food Mart, she scratched it off in the store. That’s when she realized she won the top prize of $150,000.

“It was exciting,” Patel recalled. “I was stunned.”

With her after-tax winnings of $103,801, Patel said that she and her husband plan to buy a car, share some with their three children and save for the future.

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 $233.6 million in lottery funds have made a difference in Wake County, click on the “Where the Money Goes” tab on the lottery’s website.