Credits "the spirit" for literal last-minute decision that was worth a half-million dollars
By Kate Northrop
A North Carolina woman won a $501,544 Cash 5 prize after a voice motivated her to enter a lottery drawing just minutes before ticket sales closed.
Stephanie Israel of Browns Summit described an urge to buy a lottery ticket late at night on Sat., Oct. 8, a literal last-minute decision that left her a half a million dollars richer.
"It was late at night and I was lying in bed, and the spirit just told me to go online and buy one," Israel told the North Carolina Lottery. "There was only four minutes left until the drawing."
With the ticket safely purchased in time, she dozed off for the night and checked her email the next morning. That's when she saw a notification from the Lottery that made for one of the most exciting Sunday mornings possible.
"When I went in and saw it, I screamed for 20 minutes," she continued. "I think I scared my family a little bit."
The 39-year-old player, who prefers online play for the convenience, bought her Quick Pick Cash 5 ticket using Online Play. The winning numbers for the drawing on Sat., Oct. 9 were 7, 15, 23, 31, and 32.
She visited Lottery headquarters in Raleigh on Monday to collect her prize, which came out to be $356,147 after taxes.
Israel said her family is full of entrepreneurs, so the winnings will be invested in her family's future and potentially some new ventures.
"We are constantly thinking of new ideas for businesses," she explained. "Our boys already have a landscaping business."
Israel beat the 1 in 962,598 odds of winning the Cash 5 rolling jackpot. Cash 5 drawings take place every day at 11:22 pm EST, and it is one of the games in the North Carolina Lottery's repertoire that allow players to buy their tickets either through a retailer or Online Play using the Lottery's website or mobile app. Tickets cost $1 each.
The jackpot for the drawing on Sun., Oct. 16 currently stands at $184,000.
O' Wow. So awesome how she waited til' the very "last minute!" #CONGRATS
This very lucky $$$ middle age woman, is able now to live better, while she put it to good use.
To live more comfortably, if it is managed right. So happy for her, and pay it forward, to remain blessed.
Some do "wait" til' last minute to play.
I'm guilty of that with my lucky pick 4 combinations at times. Congrats!!!
NCE(xtortion) Lottery will let you win, when they want free publicity. P3/P4/Cash5 are all rigged, prerecorded and as I said, you will win if they want you to win period!
Congrats the winner. I have not won on a QP in P3 in over a year now. Prior to that, it was a few times a month, not anymore since Mafia Mark from IGT gaming took over.
Guard your wallets NC!!!
You can't buy a ticket 4 minutes before the drawing here in NC. Geez....
Do they specify that you cannot do that?
Just pulled up my account and it gives the exact date and time a purchase was made. She probably isn't on LP to defend herself. Wish she was so she could have the transaction printed on here with redactions made if credit card #, address, what have you, is shown. Otherwise this might be construed as hearsay?
This was in response to JAMORA, forget to click include in reply.
Please tell me that they, NCEL, did not ruin their games like Kentucky did by switching to RNG games?!
The article states it was 4 minutes before sales closed and not 4 minutes before the drawing.
Only RNG here is Keno. P3/P4/Cash5 are balls, but they pre-tape video of the machines and what they want to show as the "winner". But yes, they have ruined the games for people here as well.
A lot can be done in 4 minutes. You could avoid a head on collision, the Powerball spin lasts less than 4 minutes & you could end up being the sole winner of that jackpot- all in under 240 seconds.🤛🏼
Nothing in the story seems to have come from a lottery employee, so for all we know she bought the ticket at noon on Saturday at her local Piggly Wiggly.
That said, because the sales cutoff time is 10:58 you can tickets at 4 minutes to 11. There's a fair chance that she thought the drawing is at 11 and bought the ticket at 10:56. Or maybe she bought it at 10:54, saw a notice that said sales stop in 4 minutes and thought that meant the drawing was in 4 minutes.