Pinehurst Man Wins $100,000 on $1 Lottery Ticket

A Pinehurst man is celebrating today, after winning $100,000 on a $1 Cash 5 ticket in the North Carolina Education Lottery.

Samphant Vanamathi got the winning ticket for Friday night’s Cash 5 lottery drawing at the Harris Teeter on Ivey Lane in Pinehurst.

After federal and state tax withholdings, Vanamathi takes home a nice $71,011 for his efforts.

Cash 5 is one of four lottery games in North Carolina where players have the option of buying their tickets through Online Play, either through the lottery’s website or with the NC Lottery Official Mobile App. Cash 5 tickets are $1 and drawings are held every night. Tuesday’s jackpot is $148,000.

Ticket sales from draw games such as Cash 5 make it possible for the lottery to raise more than $900 million a year for education. For details on how $4.8 million raised by the lottery made a difference in Pinehurst and Moore County in 2021, visit www.nclottery.com and click on the “Impact” section.

Vanamathi was fortunate in Pinehurst, he didn’t have to wait out several months like this North Carolina woman did after losing her lottery ticket.

He also joins a couple of other local region winners, as a Lillington woman won $100,000 recently, a Sanford woman won $250,000 on a scratch off lottery ticket, and a Fayetteville woman won a share of a nearly $800,000 lottery jackpot.

Cheer Up: What's the Happiest City in North Carolina?

• No. 27 - Raleigh

  

  Raleigh comes out as the happiest city in North Carolina, largely thanks to a rank of No. 23 in Emotional & Physical Well Being.

  • Emotional & Physical Well Being: 23
  • Income & Employment: 71
  • Community & Environment: 63
  • Total Score: 62.35

• No. 67 - Charlotte

  It’s a big jump down to the second happiest city in North Carolina. The Queen City had even marks in the three big categories, with ranks of 61-78-68.

  • Emotional & Physical Well Being: 61
  • Income & Employment: 78
  • Community & Environment: 68
  • Total Score: 57.61

• No. 74 - Durham

  Durham got a big boost ranking No. 54 in Emotional & Physical Well Being. But the rank of No. 123 in Community & Environment hurt it overall.

  • Emotional & Physical Well Being: 54
  • Income & Employment: 69
  • Community & Environment: 123
  • Total Score: 56.92

• No. 129 - Winston-Salem

  A huge leap down from Durham finds Winston-Salem, which was hurt largely by a rank of No. 138 in Emotional & Physical Well Being.

  • Emotional & Physical Well Being: 138
  • Income & Employment: 94
  • Community & Environment: 97
  • Total Score: 49.43

• No. 137 - Greensboro

  Greensboro got a fairly decent boost thanks to a rank of No. 70 in Income & Employment.

  • Emotional & Physical Well Being: 129
  • Income & Employment: 70
  • Community & Environment: 167
  • Total Score: 48.12

• No. 168 - Fayetteville

  

  It’s not that things are all unhappy around Fayetteville, it’s just that we didn’t exactly score well in a lot of the key factors for this study. Fayetteville does rank as the least happy of the major North Carolina cities in the study. Just behind Fayetteville overall is Jackson, Mississippi and Birmingham, Alabama.

  Fayetteville also took a hit, coming in at No. 181 on Lowest Income Growth and No. 180 on Most Work Hours.

  • Emotional & Physical Well Being: 161
  • Income & Employment: 155
  • Community & Environment: 171
  • Total Score: 40.83

• No. 1 overall - Fremont, California

  • Emotional & Physical Well Being: 1
  • Income & Employment: 46
  • Community & Environment: 2
  • Total Score: 77.13

• No. 2 - Columbia, Maryland

  • Emotional & Physical Well Being: 3
  • Income & Employment: 161
  • Community & Environment: 5
  • Total Score: 71.64

• No. 3 - San Francisco, California

  

  • Emotional & Physical Well Being: 4
  • Income & Employment: 1
  • Community & Environment: 44
  • Total Score: 71.15

• No. 4 - San Jose, California

  • Emotional & Physical Well Being: 2
  • Income & Employment: 6
  • Community & Environment: 55
  • Total Score: 71.00

• No. 5 - Irvine, California

  • Emotional & Physical Well Being: 5
  • Income & Employment: 16
  • Community & Environment: 12
  • Total Score: 70.38

• No. 6 - Madison, Wisconsin

  • Emotional & Physical Well Being: 10
  • Income & Employment: 11
  • Community & Environment: 19
  • Total Score: 68.10

• No. 7 - Seattle, Washington

  

  • Emotional & Physical Well Being: 6
  • Income & Employment: 2
  • Community & Environment: 99
  • Total Score: 67.67

• No. 8 - Overland Park, Kansas

  • Emotional & Physical Well Being: 12
  • Income & Employment: 54
  • Community & Environment: 13
  • Total Score: 67.46

• No. 9 - Huntington Beach, California

  • Emotional & Physical Well Being: 9
  • Income & Employment: 51
  • Community & Environment: 43
  • Total Score: 66.43

• No. 10 - San Diego, California

  • Emotional & Physical Well Being: 14
  • Income & Employment: 18
  • Community & Environment: 25
  • Total Score: 65.82

  What about at the bottom of the list?

• No. 178 - Montgomery, Alabama

  • Emotional & Physical Well Being: 174
  • Income & Employment: 180
  • Community & Environment: 161
  • Total Score: 35.54

• No. 179 - Huntington, West Virginia

  • Emotional & Physical Well Being: 182
  • Income & Employment: 39
  • Community & Environment: 141
  • Total Score: 35.53

• No. 180 - Memphis, Tennessee

  

  • Emotional & Physical Well Being: 176
  • Income & Employment: 181
  • Community & Environment: 172
  • Total Score: 34.86

• No. 181 - Gulfport, Mississippi

  • Emotional & Physical Well Being: 181
  • Income & Employment: 153
  • Community & Environment: 151
  • Total Score: 34.71

• No. 182 - Detroit, Michigan

  

  • Emotional & Physical Well Being: 179
  • Income & Employment: 179
  • Community & Environment: 177
  • Total Score: 32.31