On Tuesday evening, Jerry Finn of Mebane stood at the counter of his regular store, wrote down five numbers that just came to him out of the blue, and a few hours later won a $726,805 Cash 5 jackpot.

“Sometimes I play numbers like a birthday, but the ticket that won was just random numbers,” said Finn. “I’m about to explode!”

Finn purchased his Cash 5 ticket for Tuesday night’s drawing at Huff’s Interstate on East Maple Avenue in Burlington.

At 5:30 a.m. the next morning, before leaving for work, he checked his ticket with his wife and realized he won.

“I went over and sat down,” said Finn. “Then I stumbled into the shower and went to work.”

Finn, a truck driver, kept his ticket in a safe until he headed to lottery headquarters Friday to collect his prize. After required state and federal tax withholdings, he took home $516,105.

With his winnings, Finn said he plans to pay bills, buy a new camper, and donate to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.

Cash 5 is one of four lottery games in North Carolina where players have the option of buying their tickets through a retail location or Online Play, either through the lottery’s website or with the NC Lottery Official Mobile App. Cash 5 tickets are $1 and drawings are held every night.

Monday’s jackpot is $265,000. The odds of winning a Cash 5 jackpot are 1 in 962,598.

Ticket sales from draw games such as Cash 5 make it possible for the lottery to raise more than $900 million a year for education. For details on how $9.7 million raised by the lottery made a difference in Alamance County in 2021, visit www.nclottery.com and click on the “Impact” section.