It was all over the news that someone had bought a Mega Millions ticket at the 7-Eleven in Timberville that won $1 million. Vanessa Hernandez Lopez heard the news, but she didn’t realize that she actually had that ticket.
Her boyfriend bought the ticket for the May 10 drawing and gave it to her. When the winning numbers were drawn, 15-19-20-61-70 and the Mega Ball 9, that ticket ended up matching the first five winning numbers.
On the day after the drawing, the couple took the ticket to a different store and scanned it to see if it was a winner. But even then, they didn’t realize just how much the ticket was worth. It wasn’t until they took it to the Virginia Lottery’s customer service center in Harrisonburg that they found out it was a million-dollar ticket.
If the ticket had matched all six numbers, it would have won a jackpot estimated at $86 million. Nevertheless, it was the only one in Virginia to match the first five numbers and one of just two nationwide.
Ms. Hernandez Lopez, who lives in Broadway, said she is “excited” by the win. She said she has no immediate plans for her winnings.
She’s not the only winner: 7-Eleven receives a $10,000 bonus from the Lottery for selling the winning ticket.
Mega Millions drawings are held Tuesday and Friday nights at 11 p.m. The odds of matching the first five numbers in Mega Millions are 1 in 12,607,306. The odds of matching all six numbers to win the jackpot are 1 in 302,575,350.
Authorized by Virginia voters in a successful 1987 referendum, the Virginia Lottery generates more than $2 million per day for Virginia’s K-12 public schools. In the fiscal year ending June 30, 2021, lottery customers helped generate more than $765 million in funding for public education. For more information, visit the Virginia Lottery’s Giving Back page, visit our website, like us on Facebook, follow us on Twitter and Instagram, and check us out on YouTube. With all gaming, please remember to play responsibly.
It was all over the news that someone had bought a Mega Millions ticket at the 7-Eleven in Timberville that won $1 million. Vanessa Hernandez Lopez heard the news, but she didn’t realize that she actually had that ticket.