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Virginia man uses Fireball to win $600,000 in one Pick 5 drawing

'This time, I got lucky.'

Daniel Choi, holding his Virginia Lottery check.
Daniel Choi, holding his Virginia Lottery check. Photograph credit to the Virginia Lottery.
Todd Betzold

Sometimes, the balls fall in your favor. For this lucky Virginia Lottery player, they did just that!

Fireball number lands Virginia man a huge win

Daniel Choi, of Fairfax County, made 50 plays in the May 1 drawing for Pick 5, each using the Fireball option. From there, he told Lottery officials:

This time, I got lucky.

Lucky, indeed! The winning numbers for the Pick 5 that night were 1-4-6-6-1, and the Fireball number was 5. In Choi's 50 plays, he didn't match the five digits exactly. However, he did match using the Fireball, which replaces one of the digits, to win $12,000 for each of those 50 plays.

That means Choi won a total of $600,000 on a single Pick 5 drawing! He bought his winning tickets from CVS, located at 7500 Centreville Road in Manassas.

He recently came to claim his winnings, and he told Lottery officials he doesn't have any immediate plans for those winnings. However, he did say he would pay his student loans.

Lady Luck was on his side

Another Virginia Lottery player seemed to have Lady Luck on his side. William Blair recently tried his luck at the Print 'n Play Rolling Jackpot instant-win game. He told Lottery officials:

I was just trying to get the gist of it.

Whether he ever got the gist of it or not is unknown, but he did purchase a winning ticket. Blair bought the ticket from Apple Market, located at 6002 Boonesboro Road in Lynchburg, and it turned out to be a winning ticket. He won the $154,382 jackpot.

Blair said:

I guess Lady Luck was on my side.

He works in construction, and after recently heading to Lottery headquarters to claim his prize, he said he had no immediate plans for his winnings. However, he does need to repair his vehicle.

Man finds a lucky penny in the parking lot

The winning continues in Virginia, as another Lottery player recently claimed a big prize. Timothy Clougherty had purchased a $10,000 a Month ticket from the Virginia Lottery. While in the parking lot, he happened to see a penny, so he picked it up and used it to scratch the ticket when he got home.

As they say, “Find a penny, pick it up. All day long, you'll have good luck.” That is exactly what happened for Clougherty, as the Accomack County man ended up winning the game's top prize of $10,000 every month for the next ten years.

When winning the top prize of $10,000 a Month, the lucky winner can choose to take the 10-year annuity or a one-time cash option of $1.03 million before taxes. Clougherty chose the cash option.

When redeeming his winning ticket, he told Lottery officials:

It took a week to really start sinking in.

Clougherty bought the winning ticket at Bloxom Mini Mart, located at 25641 Shoremain Drive in Accomack. This was the first top prize claimed for this game, which means there are still two more top prizes out there. The odds of winning the top prize are 1 in 612,000.

Enjoy playing the Virginia Lottery, and please remember to play responsibly.

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