Lottery player buys 40 tickets with the same four numbers in Virginia — and wins big

In a move some would call risky, an enthusiastic Virginia lottery player bought 40 tickets — all with the same four numbers — and he won big.

Each ticket netted a top prize of $5,000, which added up to $200,000, Virginia Lottery officials announced.

The lucky player was Michael Raines of Petersburg, who works as a dump truck operator, according to a Sept. 23 news release.

He can now afford to buy his own dump truck, if he wants one.

“It’s my time to shine!” he told lottery officials. “I knew (a win) was going to come. I just didn’t know when.”

Raines bought the 40 Pick 4 tickets earlier in the summer at the Little Food Market in Petersburg, about 20 miles south of Richmond, officials said. Players are allowed to pick any four digits from 0000 to 9999, and Raines settled on 1-2-2-0.

Turns out those four numbers are special to Raines because they “commemorate the day his mother passed away,” officials said.

“It’s like she was looking out for me,” he told lottery officials.

Details of how Raines intended to spend the money were not released.

The 40 tickets were $1 each and the top prize in Pick 4 is $5,000 per winning ticket, according to the games website.

“The chances of matching all four numbers in exact order are 1 in 10,000,” lottery officials said.

This story was originally published September 23, 2021 at 2:15 PM with the headline "Lottery player buys 40 tickets with the same four numbers in Virginia — and wins big."