WENDELL – Shonda Harrell-Nichols of Wendell got married in 2021 but never took a honeymoon and, after winning a $527,797 Cash 5 jackpot, now she will.
“We’ve talked about going to Puerto Rico,” she said.
Harrell-Nichols bought her Quick Pick ticket for Monday’s drawing using Online Play. She checked her numbers Tuesday morning to see if she won.
“I woke my husband up and was like, ‘Honey, I just won the Cash 5,’” she recalled. “We were both in awe.”
Harrell-Nichols said she still has trouble processing her big win.
“It’s still surreal right now,” she said. “I don’t know how to react.”
Harrell-Nichols arrived at lottery headquarters Thursday to collect her prize and, after required state and federal tax withholdings, took home $376,056.
In addition to her honeymoon trip, she plans to invest most of her winnings.
Cash 5 is one of six lottery games in North Carolina where players have the option of buying their tickets through a retail location or with Online Play. The odds of winning a Cash 5 jackpot are 1 in 962,598. Friday’s jackpot is $155,000.
Ticket sales from draw games such as Cash 5 make it possible for the lottery to raise $2.5 million a day on average for education.
