It has been a decade of good luck and great stories. The first Carolina Cash 5 drawing was held 10 years ago today, on Oct. 27, 2006. Since then we've seen jackpots roll, jackpots hit and jackpots split by multiple winners.
To celebrate Cash 5's 10th birthday, we compiled a top 10 list of the biggest jackpot winners in the game's history.
#10: Some players like to Quick Pick and others have systems for picking their numbers. Marcus Watson of Laurinburg is the type of player who has his own favorite numbers. And after playing them faithfully for two years, they came up in Aug. 2011. He won $642,896 on the day after his birthday. “I knew these numbers were lucky,” Watson said. “I’m going to keep playing them because you never know.”
#9: In Sept. 2012, Dale Strickland of Ocean Isle Beach won $661,409 - but kept it a secret from his wife, Beth. Four days later he asked her to go for a walk with him on the beach and tell him what she would like to do if they won the lottery. She figured out his game so he finally told her how much they won. The Stricklands said they planned to pay off their mortgage and take a vacation to Hawaii.
#8: How would you react to winning the Cash 5 jackpot? Upon realizing he won $688,283 in Oct. 2009, Mark Hamlin of Charlotte said he let out a cry of joy. At the time, Hamlin was engaged to be married and said he and his fiancée planned to buy a house.
#7: A stop for iced tea in June 2014 goes down in history as more than thirst-quenching. Besides his beverage, Scott Harrison also bought five Quick Pick tickets for the nightly Cash 5 drawing. The sales representative from Charlotte won the $695,420 jackpot. Harrison's win is the most recent to make the top 10.
#6: In Dec. 2006 - early in the life of Carolina Cash 5 - the bar for the biggest jackpot was set high when a Brunswick County man won $731,836. Southport resident John Eagles' jackpot eclipsed the record at the time by nearly $400,000, and stood for more than four years.
#5: The fifth biggest Cash 5 jackpot winner in the game's history is a retired airline mechanic from Charlotte. And he's also a two-time jackpot winner. “I’m just lucky,” Grabski said after beating the odds for a second time. “I just feel like I have good luck on my side.” He won $773,609 in April 2010 and $424,168 in March 2015.
#4: Dorothy Bundy of Jacksonville said the $855,949 jackpot she won in Oct. 2011 would allow her to check some items off her bucket list. She planned to take a trip to Disney World, go whitewater rafting and take a cruise to the Bahamas. “Those are things I’ve always wanted to do,” Bundy said.
#3: For almost six years, Melvin Smith of Greenville held the title of biggest Cash 5 winner in state history. That's how long it took before another player won a jackpot that topped the $856,998 he won on Nov. 18, 2007. Smith dreamed he was going to win a big prize. "I knew it was only a matter of time," he said at the time, adding that he planned to head straight from lotery headquarters to a car dealership.
#2: After winning $876,185 in the Aug. 25, 2013 drawing, Felix Scism of Forest City said he was going to purchase a new motorhome and tour the United States with his wife. “I always wondered what it would feel like to win a big prize like this,” Scism said. “Well, let me tell you how it feels. I felt a pounding in my chest and I just started jumping up and down. I started screaming and hollering. Even the dog started barking along with me. It feels great to have this blessing. It’s nothing that you can prepare for.”
#1: In March 2013 a farmer from Zebulon, won $1.1 million - the largest Cash 5 jackpot ever won by a single ticket. To add to Homer Buffaloe's amazing luck, it wasn't even the first time he won big playing the game. In Nov. 2010, he won half of a $408,066 jackpot.
The biggest Cash 5 jackpot ever was $1.35 million. It was split by three lucky tickets that matched all five numbers in May 2011. The bigger the jackpot gets, the more tickets are sold, and the chances increase that one or more tickets will hit the jackpot.
Now that we've looked back at the game's biggest moments, a reminder looking forward that the Cash 5 $100K Days promotion starts on Tuesday. Through Dec. 10, the starting jackpot will be $100,000. Check out our blog about the promotion for more details.
And good luck to all the Cash 5 players out there. We are always happy to add a new name to the Top 10 list.
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