Jonathan Ruby of Raleigh said he has always liked the number pi, so he used those numbers on a $1 Cash 5 ticket and won a $192,941 jackpot.
“I’ve always been an extremely big math person,” Ruby said. “I picked my numbers based on pi.”
Ruby said the number pi, which starts with 3.1415, has popped up in several different situations in his life.
“I kept seeing that number so my karma told me to use it,” Ruby said. “I even lived at a 314 address as a child.”
Ruby, a 64-year-old bartender, bought his ticket from the Han-Dee Hugo’s on Hillsborough Street in Raleigh for the Nov. 28 drawing. Ruby said he knew he won something but he didn’t realize how much he won when he first left the store.
“I thought I won a dollar or two,” Ruby laughed. “I was calm until I got home and checked the numbers and then I got very excited.”
When Ruby saw the winning numbers come up as 3-14-15-31-41, he knew his love of pi finally paid off. Ruby ended up with one of three winning tickets in the drawing, winning a third of the $578,823 jackpot.
Ruby arrived at lottery headquarters Monday to collect his prize and, after required state and federal tax withholdings, took home $137,012. He said he is going to take care of some bills and put the rest into saving for retirement.
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.
Tuesday’s jackpot is $713,000. The odds of winning a Cash 5 jackpot are 1 in 962,598.
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