Vincent Martin of Asheville once had the experience that those who enjoy playing jackpot games fear the most. The one night he didn’t have a ticket in the Cash 5 drawing, he says, his lucky numbers came up.

“Miserable,” said Martin, recalling the morning after that drawing. “So I made it a plan to play every day until I won.”

His plan paid off Tuesday night with a Cash 5 drawing featuring a jackpot of $985,106. A Quick Pick ticket Martin purchased at Southeast Energy on Airport Road in Arden was one of two tickets that matched all five numbers.

Martin’s half of the jackpot was $492,553. After federal and state tax withholdings, Martin, a disabled mechanical engineer, received $341,825.

“I’m happy,” said Martin as he claimed his prize Thursday at lottery headquarters in Raleigh. “I’m very happy. I can do some good things with that money.”

First, he said, he would pay off his bills and do some good deeds. He said he also might pay off his mortgage and he might take a cruise, his first ever.

Martin said he likes the odds in the Cash 5 game. To win the jackpot, someone must beat odds of 1 in 749,398.

And he said he didn’t mind sharing the jackpot. “Half is sure better than nothing,” he said.

The other half was won by Thomasina Smith-Ross of Cameron in Moore County, who collected her prize on Wednesday.

Ticket sales from games like Cash 5 made it possible for the lottery to raise more than $634 million for the state last year. For details on how lottery funds have made a difference in Buncombe County, click on the “For Education” section of the lottery’s website.