Ruben Gomez of Maggie Valley says he believes good “karma” won him Wednesday’s Carolina Cash 5 jackpot of $237,710.
Gomez, a retired businessman, said he enjoys playing draw games such as Powerball, Mega Millions and Lucky for Life and adds Carolina Cash 5 when the jackpot crosses $200,000. With Wednesday’s jackpot at $237,710, he stopped at the Smokey Express on Soco Road and bought 10 $1 Quick Pick tickets.
“The next day I checked the numbers and at first I thought I had matched four,” Gomez said Friday as he claimed his prize. “Then, I said, ‘No. I don’t have four. I have all five.’ And I looked it up and saw there was only one winner and it was me!”
Gomez said afterward he paced around his living room – “I believe I walked three miles” – as his good luck sunk in. “I wasn’t expecting it,” he said. “If anything, it was maybe my karma.”
After federal and state tax withholdings, Gomez received $167,589. He said he planned to pay off his mortgage on a home he owns in Florida, take a trip to Las Vegas, and then save the rest.
Ticket sales from draw games like Cash 5 make it possible for the lottery to raise more than $600 million dollars 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.
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