On Wednesday, William Brooks stopped to buy a single Cash 5 ticket and the next day found himself the winner of the $176,121 jackpot.

“I was surprised,” said Brooks. “I’m shocked.”

Brooks stopped at the Curve View 18 Express on Fallston Road in Shelby and bought a $1 Quick Pick ticket for the Sept. 9 drawing.

The next day, Brooks was at his office, where he works as a transportation manager for a trucking company, when he decided to check his NC Lottery Official Mobile App to see if he was a winner.

“I never had more than three numbers before,” said Brooks. “So, I looked at the fourth and the fifth one and I realized that I may have won some money and I was tickled.”

Brooks couldn’t believe his good fortune, so he checked the winning numbers again on the app. “It came up that there was one winning ticket sold in Shelby,” he said. “And I knew that was me then.”

He called his wife to share the news of his good fortune. “I said, ‘You’re not gonna believe what I did,” he recalled. “She’s like me. We cried.”

Brooks claimed his prize Tuesday at lottery headquarters in Raleigh. After federal and state tax withholdings, he took home $124,606.

“We want to travel,” said Brooks. “We’re gonna go somewhere, hopefully to Europe. I’m hoping next year when all this stuff is over. And other than that, we’re gonna use it to secure the rest of our retirement.”

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, through Online Play on the lottery’s website, or on the NC Lottery Official Mobile app.

Tuesday’s Cash 5 jackpot is $120,000.

Ticket sales from draw games make it possible for the lottery to raise more than $725 million per year for education. For details on how $6.1 million raised by the lottery made a difference in Cleveland County in 2019, visit www.nclottery.com and click on the “Impact” section.