RALEIGH – Willie Murphy of Fayetteville felt like a lucky guy in July when he won $10,000 on a scratch-off ticket.

“I thought that was my win,” said Murphy, a 28-year Army veteran who now works as a civilian employee for the Department of Defense.

But it wasn’t.

When Murphy checked his Cash 5 tickets on Friday, he discovered he had beat odds of 1 in 575,757 to win the Nov. 13 Cash 5 jackpot of $130,813.

“I don’t go wild, just every now and then I buy a lottery ticket,” Murphy said after collecting his prize Monday. “If I lose, I lose. But I’ve been pretty lucky. I’m still a little dumbfounded. And it is still a little hard to believe.”

Murphy spent $5 on Quick Pick tickets for the Cash 5 drawing while at the Kangaroo Express on Hope Mills Road in Fayetteville. He said he went back to the store on Friday to confirm his win, first with a ticket checker and then with a clerk. Both checks confirmed he had to go to lottery headquarters to claim his prize.

After taxes were withheld, Murphy received a check for $90,522. Murphy said the prize will help with his next stage of life.

“Getting ready to retire soon,” Murphy said. “So right now the only thing I’m going to do is put it in the bank into savings.”

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 $3.5 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 $116 million in lottery funds have made a difference in Cumberland County, click on the “Where the Money Goes” tab on the lottery’s website.