Sharon Cline of Burke County said winning the lottery seemed to be a pipe dream until it all came true with Tuesday’s Cash 5 jackpot of $110,000.

“You spend a couple of dollars and it’s a pipe dream,” Cline said Friday as she collected her prize. “But then it happens, and it is surreal. I said to my husband the next morning, ‘Did I dream that last night or did it really happen?’”

What happened on Wednesday when Cline returned to where she bought her Quick Pick ticket the day before, Hildebran Shell on Old N.C. 10, is she learned the store had sold the winning Cash 5 ticket in Tuesday’s drawing. She checked her ticket and saw she was the winner.

“I thought, ‘Oh, my,’” said Cline, an upholstery sewer. “Just utter shock.”

After required state and federal tax withholdings, Cline took home $77,825.

“Just help some people out,” she said of her plans. “It will benefit people who are in need.”

Cash 5 is a statewide draw game that gives players the chance to win a jackpot every single night. Tickets cost $1 and players can buy tickets at most lottery retailers or through Online Play on the lottery’s website. The jackpot for Friday’s drawing is $120,000.

Ticket sales from draw games like Cash 5 make it possible for the lottery to raise more than $700 million a year for education. For details on how lottery funds have helped all of North Carolina’s 100 counties, click on the “Impact” section of the lottery’s website. https://www.nclottery.com.