Lottery player’s stop for Christmas party supplies pays off. ‘I dropped the ticket!’
A lottery player stopped for Christmas party supplies — and it paid off big time.
“I dropped the ticket!” Kayla Murray told the Virginia Lottery as she celebrated her $125,000 win.
Murray hit the jackpot after she gave her sister a ride to a Christmas party. Her sister needed to shop for the festivities, so the two went to a Food Lion grocery store in Pearisburg, about 60 miles northwest of Roanoke.
At the supermarket, Murray tried her luck on the Holiday Cash 20X game. She spent $5 on the ticket and was still at the store when she scratched it off, the Virginia Lottery said Dec. 29 in a news release.
It turns out, Murray beat 1-in-342,720 odds to score the game’s top prize. The windfall made her Christmas “a memorable one, even before the presents were opened,” lottery officials wrote.
The lottery didn’t say how much money Murray kept after taxes. The winner, a Roanoke resident, plans to pay bills and may go on a cruise.
It’s not the first time a lottery player’s holiday plans took a lucky twist. In Maryland, a man won big after he received a lottery ticket as a stocking stuffer, McClatchy News reported.
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If you or a loved one shows signs of gambling addiction, you can seek help by calling the national gambling hotline at 1-800-522-4700 or visiting the National Council on Problem Gambling website.
