News writer
Two separate wins, but both equally exciting for these Virginia Lottery players.
$1 million Powerball win
While Nicholas Perez bought his Powerball ticket on April 1, hoping to win the jaw-dropping $1 billion jackpot, he can't be too upset when he didn't win the jackpot because he did walk away with a $1 million second-tier prize.
The winning white ball numbers for that April 1 drawing were 19, 24, 40, 42, and 56, and the Powerball number was 23. The Burke man bought his winning ticket at Safeway, located at 8646 Richmond Highway in Alexandria. For selling the winning ticket, Safeway will receive a $10,000 bonus from the Virginia Lottery.
Perez matched the five white balls to win $1 million. His ticket was one of only six in the nation to match the first five numbers and the only one in Virginia. Perez used the Easy Pick option and let the computer generate the winning numbers on his ticket.
While Perez, who works in construction, recently went to Lottery headquarters to collect his winnings, he told Lottery officials that he has no immediate plans for his winnings.
Winning bowl of soup
Another lucky Virginia Lottery player recently won over $1 million playing an online lottery game.
Daniel Ricketts told Lottery officials that he was cooking a bowl of soup, so he decided to take a little break and played a lottery game on his personal device. It ended up being a wise decision, as Ricketts ended up winning $1.05 million playing the Wheel of Bonuses game.
The Chatham man told Lottery officials:
I really didn't expect this to happen! I called my girlfriend, and she didn't believe me!
She can believe him now, as Ricketts has received the check from the Virginia Lottery. He told officials that he had a few minutes to kill while his soup was warming up, so he went online and played a game.
He said:
I was expecting a much lower prize!
It was not a lower prize, though, as Ricketts can celebrate the big win.
Fortune cookie numbers for the win!
We have another Virginia Lottery winner, but it wasn't $1 million for Tierra Barley. However, she did walk away with $50,000 after playing her fortune cookie numbers on the Powerball.
Barley told Lottery officials that she uses numbers that she once found in a fortune cookie when playing the lottery.
It worked out for her, as those fortune cookie numbers won her $50,000 in the May 8 Powerball drawing. The winning white ball numbers for that draw were 7, 41, 43, 44, and 51, and the Powerball number was 5.
She bought the winning ticket from Varina Superstore Supermarket, located on Darbytown Road in Henrico. Her ticket matched four of the five white ball numbers and the Powerball number to win the $50,000 prize.
However, the win almost never even happened for Barley, who told Lottery officials she almost lost the ticket before the drawing even took place! Barley purchased the ticket but then left it in the store while she went to the park with her daughter.
When she realized she forgot it, she went back to the store and someone else was in the process of buying Powerball tickets. That person was helpful and found the ticket and gave it to Barley.
Enjoy playing the Virginia Lottery, and please remember to play responsibly.
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