A Woodbridge, Virginia, man is $7 million richer after he bought a scratch-off lottery ticket at a Fairfax Safeway.
“It took me a while to make sure I wasn’t dreaming,” Yibeltal Belachew told the Virginia Lottery. “You don’t believe that kind of stuff right away!”
Belachew bought the 100X The Money ticket at the Safeway at 10350 Willard Way. He took the cash option for the prize, rather than 30 annual payments.
The Virginia Lottery, in a news release, said this was the first top prize claimed in the game. Two other $7 million prizes have yet to be claimed.
The odds of winning the $7 million are one in 2,611,200. Other prizes in the scratch-off start at $30.
Meanwhile, a Prince William County woman won $327,739 in the Virginia Lottery’s Print ‘n Play Rolling Jackpot game.
Lisa Miclot bought the ticket at the Harris-Teeter at 42780 Creek View Plaza in Ashburn.
Jackpots in the game start at $50,000, and increase with each ticket sold until somebody wins.
Other recent lottery wins include Charles Corry of Alexandria, who won $1 million in the Cash4Life game, and James Matthews of Alexandria, who won $108,512 as the first top prize winner of the Big Money Jackpots game.
The Virginia Lottery helps fund education in the state. In the last fiscal year, the lottery generated more than $765 million for public education.
