A loyal son has won USD 120,000 playing the lottery using his dead father’s lucky sports numbers.

Winner Thomas Workman, 47, of Winston-Salem, a city in Forsyth County, in the US state of North Carolina, said he took over his dad’s numbers after he died four years ago.

The numbers are a collection of shirt numbers from his father’s favourite sports stars like basketball’s Shaquille O’Neal.

Thomas is quoted in a statement Newsflash obtained from the North Carolina Lottery on Tuesday, 4th April, as saying: “My dad used to play them and, after he died, I told myself I’m going to keep playing them.

“It’s jersey numbers from some favorite players like Scottie Pippen and Shaquille O’Neal.”

Maintenance worker Thomas said he had kept faith with the numbers, telling his girlfriend many times that he would win the lottery one day.

He said: “I truly believe in karma. I just felt that one of these days something like this would happen to me.”

The statement added: “Almost four years after his father’s death, Thomas Workman of Winston-Salem won a USD 120,000 [GBP 96,000] jackpot in Monday’s Cash 5 drawing by continuing to play their shared lucky numbers.”

After state and federal taxes, Thomas took home USD 85,500 (GBP 68,350).

He said that he will use his winnings to pay off his car loan and look into buying a home with his girlfriend.