News writer
We all want to give the perfect gift, but can anything ever top giving your mom a gift of $1 million?
That is what happened to one lucky Virginia woman after her son gave her his Powerball ticket, and she ended up winning $1 million on the ticket!
The $1 million gift
So, how do you gift someone a Powerball ticket? Maria Roldan's son bought a Powerball ticket, but he was getting ready to head out on vacation and would miss the drawing. So, he decided to give the ticket to his mother.
Well, it turned out to be a $1 million gift. The lucky ticket matched the five white ball numbers in the March 11, 2024, drawing. For that drawing, Roldan's ticket happened to be the only ticket in the nation to win the $1 million prize.
While she knew she was a winner, the Vienna woman didn't realize how much she had won until she and her son brought the winning ticket to the Virginia Lottery's Northern Virginia customer service center in Woodbridge.
Once they found out the prize amount, her son asked lottery officials:
You are kidding, right?
No, it wasn't a joke! The winning white ball numbers for the March 11 drawing were 1, 3, 7, 16, and 66, and the Powerball number was 5. Roldan's winning ticket matched all of the white ball numbers but missed the Powerball number to win $1 million. If she had matched the Powerball number too, she would have won the jackpot, which was estimated at $532 million that night.
Not the only winner that night
While Roldan and her son were big winners, there was another big winner from that March 11 drawing. Roldan's son bought the ticket at 7-Eleven, located at 2242 Gallows Road in Dunn Loring.
In Virginia, lottery retailers that sell a $1 million winning ticket receive a $10,000 bonus from the Virginia Lottery.
The Virginia Lottery is giving back
The Virginia Lottery is taking playing seriously. While fun and excitement matter, the education of Virginia's youngest residents also matters. Every time you scratch a ticket, pick your numbers for the big jackpot, or play online, you are helping to create winners in education all over Virginia.
In Fiscal Year 2023, the Virginia Lottery had sales of more than $4.6 billion. Of that total, the lottery contributed more than $867 million to Virginia's public schools, more than $2.3 million per day. This contributed to approximately 10% of Virginia's total K-12 school budget.
All profits from the Virginia Lottery go to K-12 education in the state. Maria Roldan lives in Fairfax County, which happened to receive more than $48.5 million in lottery funds for K-12 education last fiscal year.
In addition to K-12 education in the state, the Virginia Lottery gave back more than $3.4 billion to players in the form of prizes. They also gave more than $137 million to retailers who sold winning Virginia Lottery tickets, and $195 million went to operational expenses.
Enjoy playing the Virginia Lottery, and please remember to play responsibly.
