A Virginia man just won a $500,000 top prize on a scratch-off ticket he bought at a convenience store, lottery officials said.
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Donald Rice had just won $20 playing the lottery, then decided to buy another ticket with the winnings and won $50 in Virginia.
“I looked. I looked again,” he told lottery officials. “I said, ‘OK, it’s legit! It’s real!’”
The Emporia man beat the 1-in-1,346,400 odds to win a top prize of $500,000, claiming the second of three top prizes available in the game, lottery officials said.
He bought his winning ticket at a convenience store in Jarratt.
Emporia is a small city in southern Virginia, about a 70-mile drive south from Richmond.
Many people can gamble or play games of chance without harm. However, for some, gambling is an addiction that can ruin lives and families.
Olivia Lloyd is an Associate Editor/Reporter for the Coral Springs News, the Pembroke Pines News and the Miramar News. She graduated from Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism. Previously, she has worked for Hearst DevHub, the South Florida Sun-Sentinel and McClatchy’s Real Time Team.
