Almost four years after his father’s death, Thomas Workman of Winston-Salem won a $120,000 jackpot in Monday’s Cash 5 drawing by continuing to play their shared lucky numbers.

“My dad used to play them and, after he died, I told myself I’m going to keep playing them,” he said.

Workman said their mutual love of sports inspired the lucky numbers.

“It’s jersey numbers from some favorite players like Scottie Pippen and Shaquille O’Neal,” he said.

Workman, a 47-year-old maintenance worker, bought his lucky $1 Cash 5 ticket from BY-LO on Old Lexington Road in Winston-Salem. He matched all five white balls Monday night to win the jackpot.

“I thought it was an April Fools’ joke,” he laughed. “I was flipping out a little bit.”

Workman said he told his girlfriend many times that he would one day win the lottery.

“I truly believe in karma,” Workman said. “I just felt that one of these days something like this would happen to me.”

Workman arrived at lottery headquarters Tuesday to collect his prize and, after required state and federal tax withholdings, took home $85,500.

He said he will use the winnings to pay off his car and look into buying a home with his girlfriend.

Cash 5 is one of six 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. The odds of winning a Cash 5 jackpot are 1 in 962,598. Tuesday’s jackpot is $100,000.

Ticket sales from draw games such as Cash 5 make it possible for the lottery to raise $2.5 million a day on average for education. For details on how $21.8 million raised by the lottery made a difference in Forsyth County last year, visit www.nclottery.com and click on the “Impact” section.