A routine stop at a neighborhood convenience store on Leap Day led to a $1,378,163 Cash 5 win for Russell Davis of Jamestown.

“I stopped, like I normally do, to get some things for the house,” said Davis. “I saw that the jackpot had gone up, so I got a ticket.”

Davis doesn’t play the lottery often, but when he does it’s a draw game with a jackpot like Cash 5.

“Normally, I wait for it to go up,” he said. “When it goes up, that’s when I’ll buy some tickets.”

Davis paid $1 at the Quick Mart on West Main Street in Jamestown for his Quick Pick ticket and went home.

“I checked my phone the next morning,” he said. “When I saw that all of the numbers matched perfectly I looked at my phone and to my ticket and back to my phone. I must’ve done that about four times.”

The winning ticket matched all five numbers in the Leap Day drawing, beating odds of 1 in 962,598.

“It’s exciting,” Davis said, still in disbelief as he claimed his prize at lottery headquarters in Raleigh.

After state and federal tax withholdings he took home $975,051. When asked what he’d do with the money he said he’d like to keep it simple.

“I’m going to pay off my house, take care of some debt, and take a little vacation,” said Davis. “My wife and I get to go wherever we want now!”

Draw games such as Carolina Cash 5 make it possible for the lottery to raise more than $700 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.