REGIONAL: Cabarrus County man nearly threw away his $120,000 Cash 5 ticket

Published 10:06 am Tuesday, July 20, 2021

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Jerry Dennis of Concord said he nearly tossed out the window of his truck a Cash 5 ticket that turned out to be worth $120,000.

“I about threw that ticket away,” laughed Dennis. “I had it laying on the seat of my pickup. The other day I started cleaning out my truck and thought, ‘I better check it. I feel lucky today.’”

And so he did at Sam’s Mini Stop on Old Charlotte Road in Concord, where he also bought the Quick Pick ticket for the July 13 drawing.

“I was tickled to death, I’ll tell you that!” recalled Dennis of his reaction to finding out the good news.

When asked what he’d do with his big win, he said he’d give some to his kids and buy a new car.

Dennis worked on a race team for about 15 years. A love of cars means that he will use some of that jackpot money to bring home his very own Cadillac.

He claimed his prize Monday at lottery headquarters in Raleigh and, after required federal and state tax withholdings, took home $84,900.

Carolina Cash 5 tickets are $1 and drawings are held every night. Tuesday’s jackpot is $369,000. 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 either through the lottery’s website or with the NC Lottery Official Mobile App.

Ticket sales from draw games like Cash 5 make it possible for the lottery to raise more than $725 million per year for education. For details on how $14.7 million raised by the lottery made a difference in Cabarrus County in 2020, visit www.nclottery.com and click on the “Impact” section.