Nadia Belhaj of Charlotte used a combination of her own numbers and Quick Pick numbers to win her half of a $2.1 million Cash 5 jackpot.
“I just have these feelings about numbers sometimes,” she explained. “I just use my intuition.”
Belhaj purchased her winning ticket at the Circle K on John J Delaney Drive in Charlotte. The other winning ticket was won by Timiaya Ellison of Charlotte.
Both tickets matched the numbers on all five balls in the April 19 drawing. The record-high jackpot marked the first time a Cash 5 jackpot estimate reached over $2 million in the game’s history.
“I didn’t know I was sleeping rich!” joked Belhaj of when she learned of her big win.
The day after the drawing, Belhaj checked the winning numbers and was shocked to see hers were drawn. “At first, I couldn’t believe it,” she recalled.
“I had to double check the number like three times because I couldn’t really believe it.”
That night, Belhaj said she was “too excited to go to sleep.”
She claimed her half of the jackpot, $1,054,439, on Thursday at lottery headquarters in Raleigh. After required federal and state tax withholdings, Belhaj took home $746,028.
Carolina Cash 5 tickets are $1 and drawings are held every night. Monday’s jackpot is $205,000. The odds of winning a Cash 5 jackpot are 1 in 962,598.
Cash 5 is one of four lottery games in North Carolina where players have the option of buying their tickets through Online Play on the lottery’s website or with the NC Lottery Official Mobile App.
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