Tom Smith of Pinehurst is celebrating another year and a $318,491 Cash 5 jackpot after his wife, Lisa, got him a ticket just days before his birthday.

“Nothing says happy birthday like a lottery ticket,” said Smith, a Vietnam Air Force veteran. “Especially a winning one.”

Their good fortune happened when Lisa stopped by the Harris Teeter on Ivey Lane in Pinehurst and bought a $1 Cash 5 ticket for the Oct. 7 drawing.

“All the numbers I used were special to us,” she said. “I used a combination of our marriage date, how many years we’ve been married, and birthdays.”

Lisa, a receptionist at a dental office, checked the numbers before she went to work the next morning.

“When I saw that they matched, I immediately called out, ‘Tom, we won the lottery!’” Lisa said. “I started shaking and couldn’t see straight I was so excited.”

“I didn’t believe her when she told me,” Smith said. “I thought maybe we’d won $100, but we won the jackpot.”

The ticket beat odds of one in 749,398 to win the prize. They claimed the jackpot Friday at lottery headquarters in Raleigh. After required state and federal tax withholdings, they took home $224,540. They plan to use some of the money to pay off their mortgage and put the rest in savings.

Cash 5 is a statewide draw game that gives players the chance to win a jackpot every night. Players can buy tickets at most lottery retailers or through Online Play on the lottery’s website, www.nclottery.com.

Ticket sales from draw games make it possible for the lottery to raise more than $650 million a year for education. For details on how lottery funds have made a difference in all of North Carolina’s 100 counties, click on the “Impact” section of the lottery’s website.