Lottery player often gives away tickets for Christmas. Luckily he kept jackpot winner

Scott Nalevanko usually gives away tickets to Virginia’s New Year’s Millionaire Raffle for Christmas.

So when he heard a $1 million jackpot winner had been sold at the location where he bought his tickets, he wondered whether he had given it to someone else.

“I found it,” he told Virginia Lottery officials.

Nalevanko hit one of five $1 million winners in the sold-out lottery raffle, the Virginia Lottery announced Jan 5.

The state lottery said it sold 625,000 tickets for the annual game, which announced its winners the afternoon of Jan. 1. The organization sold all tickets for the game by Dec. 29.

Nalevanko recalled hearing one of the jackpot tickets was purchased in his town and thought to himself, “You’ve got to be kidding me.”

He bought the ticket at a 7-Eleven in Leesburg, where he also owns a small business.

“When I saw that address, it had to be,” the Loudoun County man said.

The other four jackpot winners bought their tickets in Stafford, Fredericksburg, Manassas and Arlington, McClatchy News reported.

Other raffle players won smaller prizes of $100,000 and $500.

“All Virginia Lottery profits go to K-12 education in Virginia,” lottery officials said. “In Fiscal Year 2023, the Lottery raised more than $867 million for K-12 education, making up approximately 10% of Virginia’s total K-12 school budget.”

Leesburg is the seat of Loudoun County in northern Virginia, about 40 miles northwest of Washington, D.C.