A woman in Virginia won big after she was given the wrong lottery ticket.
Kelly Lindsay, from the small town Carrollton, Va., went home with $2 million dollars after being given the wrong lottery ticket at a gas station, according to the Virginia Lottery.
The winner told the company that she was not pleased when she was given a Money Blitz ticket, rather than her favorite scratcher game. However, that did not stop her from playing. She reportedly scratched the lottery ticket in the parking lot and learned that she won the top prize.
“And I got over not being happy about it!” Lindsay told Virginia Lottery.
When redeeming her ticket, she was given the choice of taking the full $2 million prize in yearly payments over 30 years or a one-time payment of $1,250,000 pre taxes. The prize winner opted for the cash option.
Per the company, Lindsay’s win marks the second top prize for Money Blitz, meaning there is still one to be claimed. That said, winning the top prize in the lottery is a rare occurrence.
The Virginia Lottery states, “The chances of winning the top prize are 1 in 1,142,400. The chances of winning any prize in this game are 1 in 3.29.” The company also shares that the profits of the lottery support K-12 education in Virginia.
“Ms. Lindsay lives in Isle of Wight County, which received more than $3.7 million in Lottery funds for K-12 education last fiscal year,” said the lottery company. “In Fiscal Year 2024, the Lottery raised more than $934 million for K-12 education, making up approximately 10 percent of Virginia’s total K-12 school budget.”
There have been several stories of people accidentally winning the lottery. In March 2024, Virginia woman Miriam Long won $1 million when she mistakenly purchased a Powerball of a Mega Millions ticket.
The woman told Virginia Lottery officials at the time that she accidentally hit the wrong button on a machine at a CVS store in Blacksburg. “It’s the best mistake of my life!” she said.
In 2021, LaQuedra Edwards of California won $10 million when she placed $40 into a Lottery Scratchers and pushed the button for the wrong ticket after she was bumped by a “rude person” at a grocery store.
Per the California Lottery, the push caused Edwards to buy one 200X Scratchers ticket, which she had no intention of buying. However, after scratching it in her car, she discovered she had won the jackpot. “I didn’t really believe it at first, but I got on the 405 freeway and kept looking down at [the ticket], and I almost crashed my car,” Edwards recalled.
