Man finds out he has $1 million lottery ticket while on overseas trip
SALEM, Va. (WDBJ/Gray News) - A Virginia man says he won a million-dollar lottery jackpot but didn’t realize it until he was on an overseas trip.
WDBJ reports Garland Hare bought a Mega Millions ticket for the Nov. 1 drawing. He then discovered he’d matched the first five numbers to win $1 million while he was out of the country.
“It was very unexpected!” he told Virginia Lottery officials.
The winning numbers on Hare’s ticket were 5-9-15-16-17. He said he selected his numbers using a combination of family birthdays and anniversaries.
According to lottery officials, Hare bought the ticket at a mini-mart in Salem, with the store receiving a $10,000 bonus for selling the winning ticket.
The Virginia Lottery said Hare’s ticket was one of seven nationwide to win the $1 million prize. If he matched all six numbers drawn, his ticket would have been worth $87 million.
Hare works in computer programming. He said he intends to pay bills and travel more with his winnings.
Drawings for the Mega Millions are Tuesday and Friday nights. Lottery officials said the odds of matching the first five numbers are 1 in 12,607,306, and the odds of matching all six numbers are 1 in 302,575,350.
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