Monroe resident Glenda Honeycutt picks her Cash 5 numbers based on the ages of her grandchildren, a strategy that helped her win a $265,152 jackpot.

“I always play my grandchildren’s ages,” Honeycutt said. “I play them every night.”

She bought her lucky $1 ticket from the Food Lion on West Roosevelt Boulevard in Monroe. Her ticket matched all five numbers to win the jackpot in the Jan. 14 drawing. The odds of matching numbers on all five balls are 1 in 962,598.

“Three previous times I matched four of the five balls on Cash 5,” she said.

Honeycutt checked the winning numbers the morning after the drawing while she ate breakfast. She didn’t believe what she saw.

“It took a while for it to sink in,” she said. “It was a shock.”

Honeycutt claimed her prize at lottery headquarters Thursday and, after required federal and state tax withholdings, he took home $189,584.

She plans to use her winnings to do some home repairs.

Cash 5 is one of six lottery games in North Carolina where players have the option of buying their tickets at a retail location or with Online Play through the lottery’s website or with the NC Lottery Official Mobile App. Thursday’s jackpot is $512,000.

For details on how $16.2 million raised by the lottery made a difference for Union County education programs last year, visit www.nclottery.com and click on the “Impact” section.