Clerk thinks man’s jackpot lottery win in Virginia is only $600 — until he looks twice
A small business owner got a big shock after realizing he won a jackpot in the Virginia lottery.
Mickey Shelton, who owns a business in Martinsville, stopped to grab a cup of coffee and a handful of lottery tickets on his way to work as usual, according to a May 6 news release from the Virginia Lottery.
He scratched off one of the tickets he bought at the Chatmoss Crossing in Martinsville and couldn’t believe his eyes, according to lottery officials.
“I had to take a double-take,” Shelton told lottery officials.
He showed the ticket to the store clerk, who told him he had won $600.
“No, it’s more than that,” Shelton responded to the clerk.
He had actually won a $566,000 jackpot in the 10 Years of Cash game, lottery officials said.
Shelton had the choice of taking home $5,000 a month for 10 years, or cashing out a lump sum prize of $566,044 before taxes. He chose to take home the lump sum, lottery officials said.
The odds of winning the top prize in the 10 Years of Cash game are 1 in 2,856,000, according to the Virginia Lottery.
Martinsville is about 50 miles south of Roanoke.
This story was originally published May 6, 2022 at 1:21 PM with the headline "Clerk thinks man’s jackpot lottery win in Virginia is only $600 — until he looks twice."
