Lottery player has dream of hitting NC jackpot, down to ‘exact amount’ — then he does

A man had a dream one night that he won the top prize in a North Carolina lottery game, then he checked his numbers the next day and learned he had.

Robert Hoban bought an online ticket for a Sunday night drawing of the Cash 5 game for $1 and went to bed, the North Carolina Education Lottery said Feb. 21.

Then he woke up the next morning to see he had matched all five numbers to win the jackpot of $110,000.

“I actually dreamt the night before that I would win,” the Gaston County man told lottery officials. “It’s strange because I even dreamt the exact amount that I won.”

He recalled that when he told his family he had won, beating the 1-in-962,598 odds, they were skeptical.

“They thought I was kidding with them, because I like to do that a lot,” he told lottery officials. “It was very crazy, but it’s true.”

He took home $78,925 after tax, according to the N.C. Education Lottery.

Cash 5 drawings happen every night at 11:22 p.m.

Hoban is from Stanley, about a 20-mile drive northwest from Charlotte.

This story was originally published February 24, 2025 at 7:55 AM with the headline "Lottery player has dream of hitting NC jackpot, down to ‘exact amount’ — then he does."