HAMPTON ROADS, Va. - Two local lottery players have a little bit more cash in their pockets.
The Virginia Lottery reported that a man from Newport News and a woman on the Eastern Shore won big by playing some of their games.
“I had to put my glasses on. I had to keep looking at it," said Ralph Ellis.
That’s how the Newport News resident described the moment he scratched a Lucky Break ticket and discovered he’d just won the game’s $170,000 top prize.
According to the Virginia Lottery, It happened with a ticket he bought at the Murphy USA located at 1965 Cunningham Drive in Hampton.
The next day, when he took his winning ticket to the Virginia Lottery customer service center in Hampton, the retiree said he had some celebrating to do.
“I haven’t let it all out yet,” he told Lottery officials. “I’ll probably let it all out soon!”
Since Ellis is the second player to claim the top prize of the Lucky Break game, the Virginia Lottery says there are two more top prize-winning tickets unclaimed. The odds of winning the top prize in this game are 1 in 1,530,000.
Over on the Eastern Shore, it was the middle of the night when Karen Hunter of Parksley discovered she’d won $125,000 playing the Virginia Lottery’s Cash 5 with EZ Match game. She said she woke up and decided to check the winning numbers from the May 20 drawing.
When she saw those numbers, 8-10-18-21-39, she was stunned.
“I looked at it 10 or 15 times,” she said. “I couldn’t believe it!”
It turns out she had matched all five winning numbers to win the $125,000 jackpot!
“I couldn’t go back to sleep,” she told Virginia Lottery officials. “So, I went to my son’s house. When he saw the numbers, I knew I was right. I just broke down and cried!”
The winning ticket was bought at E & C VA, located at 6480 Lankford Highway in Oak Hall.
Congratulations to these lucky winners!
