Willie Bland of Williamston didn’t find out he won a $670,292 Cash 5 jackpot until news of the winning ticket became the talk of the small Eastern North Carolina town.

For days after the June 23rd drawing, the mystery of the lucky winner had folks all over the town buzzing. The next Saturday, Bland stopped to get gas where he had bought his ticket for the drawing, the Williamston Family Fare, a BP station on West Main Street. There, a clerk told Bland that the Cash 5 winner was from Williamston.

Bland then stopped for lunch. At the restaurant, his waitress, chatting about the big lottery win, shared the news that the winner bought the ticket at the BP station.

“I thought, ‘Wait a minute,’ I bought a ticket at the BP station,” Bland recalled.

Bland raced home. He found his Cash 5 ticket. He discovered his numbers matched all five of the winning numbers. He realized he was the lucky winner.

“I started hollering and shouting,” Bland said. “What am I going to do now?”

An occasional player, Bland had played a Quick Pick ticket for the June 22nd Cash 5 drawing. The next day, he decided to try the same numbers again.

Bland claimed his prize Thursday at the Raleigh office. After required state and federal tax withholdings, he received $463,006.

Bland plans to use the money to make his mom’s house wheelchair accessible.

The odds of winning the Cash 5 jackpot are 1 in 749,398.

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 Martin County, click on the “For Education” section of the lottery’s website.