Lucky lottery player ‘broke down’ after seeing his big prize in Virginia lottery
A Virginia player had a good feeling as he scratched off his lottery ticket, but he was overwhelmed when he actually saw his winnings, lottery officials said.
Randall Smith was sitting in his car when he won a $100,000 top prize from a Money Tree ticket, the Virginia Lottery said in a Jan. 6 news release.
“I broke down, and I lost it!” Smith told lottery officials.
He had just purchased the ticket from a grocery store in Grundy, about a 180-mile drive northeast from Knoxville, Tennessee, the lottery said.
The game, which started in November, costs $5 to play and includes prizes ranging from $5 to the $100,000, according to the website. Only one top prize remains unclaimed as of Jan. 7.
The overall odds of winning are 1 in 4.26 and the odds of winning $100,000 are 1 in 1,020,000, lottery officials said.
This story was originally published January 7, 2025 at 2:38 PM with the headline "Lucky lottery player ‘broke down’ after seeing his big prize in Virginia lottery."
