GASTONIA, N.C. — William Carroll of Gastonia said he still can’t believe he picked the winning numbers for a $692,388 Cash 5 jackpot.
"I was just sitting at the kitchen table one night and some numbers came into my head," Carroll told Channel 9's partners at the Gaston Gazette. "I wrote them down and decided I should probably play them."
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On Friday night, he stopped by the Speedway on West Franklin Street in Gastonia and used those numbers to buy a Cash 5 ticket. He put the ticket on his bedside table and didn’t think about it until four days later when he went back to the store to check it.
“When the clerk said I needed to go to Raleigh I knew I won something big,” Carroll said. “I was so excited I had to keep myself calm. I always hoped that I would win, but I never thought I actually would. My dream finally came true.”
Carroll claimed the jackpot Wednesday at lottery headquarters in Raleigh.
After required state and federal tax withholdings, he took home $489,865. He told the Gazette he plans to use the money to buy a new Chevrolet truck and go to the beach.
“I can’t remember the last time I took a vacation,” Carroll said. “Which means, it’s long overdue.”
His ticket beat odds of one in 962,598 to win the jackpot.
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