Woman receives lottery ticket as Christmas gift, wins $1 million
Published 2:52 pm Monday, January 5, 2015
COURTLAND
A lottery ticket given as a Christmas stocking stuffer turned a local woman into a millionaire when her ticket was drawn as one of three top prize winners.
“I got a $1 million raffle ticket,” said Sharon Mayes of Courtland, as she claimed her prize. “He got a grill.”
Sharon Mayes, left receives her check from Virginia Lottery Executive Director Paula Otto.
Her husband bought the ticket at the Mid-Atlantic Circle K on South Crater Road in Petersburg. The store received a $10,000 bonus for selling the winning numbers.
Mayes discovered that she had won the top prize when she went to the Virginia Lottery’s website.
“I just kept looking from the ticket to the computer screen; from the ticket to the screen, again and again,” she said.
While receiving her million-dollar check from Virginia Lottery Executive Director Paula Otto, Mayes said the winnings will help pay off her children’s college debts.
Two more million dollar winners purchased tickets in Norfolk and Ridgeway, and six others won $25,000 in Ashburn, Marion, Midlothian, Norfolk, Spotsylvania and Staunton. Additionally, 300 tickets won $500 apiece.
