RALEIGH – Jesus Madera, a textile technician from Burlington, is the latest player to claim a big prize playing the Carolina Cash 5 game. Madera matched all five numbers in Thursday’s drawing and won the $139,028 jackpot.

“I was getting ready to go to work this morning and I looked up my numbers in the newspaper,” Madera said. “I didn’t think it was real at first, so I had my wife call the lottery hotline to make sure. After that, I got really excited.”

After state and federal taxes were withheld, Madera received a check for $96,207. He purchased the lucky ticket, which beat odds of 1 in 575,757, at the Whistle Express on West Main Street in Haw River.

“This is a good feeling,” Madera said. “I’m going to pay some bills and I’m going to eat steak tonight.”

As of December 2013, the lottery has raised more than $3.19 billion to benefit education programs. Lottery dollars support teachers’ salaries in grades K-3, school construction and repair projects, prekindergarten programs for at-risk four-year-olds, need-based college scholarships and financial aid and digital learning initiatives.

To see how more than $40.5 million in lottery dollars have made a difference in Alamance County, go to the Where the Money Goes webpage at http://www.nc-educationlottery.org/beneficiary.aspx.