South Boston Man Wins $500K Jackpot from Virginia Lottery Scratcher Game

The Virginia Lottery currently offers a wide range of scratcher games. With dozens of games, prizes vary between $20 and the staggering $500,000. Last week one South Boston man collected the latter prize, after buying a Magnificent 7s scratcher ticket. The lucky man won the game’s $500,000 top prize after purchasing a ticket from the Food Lion at 3346 Halifax Road in South Boston, Virginia.

The hefty win marked the first top prize won from Magnificent 7s. Upon buying the winning lottery ticket, the man scratched it off at the parking lot and realized that he won the game’s grand prize. When asked what he intends to do with the winnings, the lucky winner, Russell Gomes, said that he wants to pay for a vacation he planned before the win.

Considering that one top prize from Magnificent 7s was won, there are two more top prizes remaining. While the overall odds of winning a prize from the scratch-off ticket are 1 in 5.9, the chances of winning the top prize are 1 in 612,000.

Currently, profits from the Virginia Lottery benefit K-12 education in the state. Halifax County, Gomes’ place of residence, benefitted from more than $4.4 million in K-12 education funding from the Lottery for the last fiscal year.

On the other hand, according to the Lottery, some $867 million was raised for K-12 education for Fiscal Year 2023. The sum represents a whopping 10% of the state’s total K-12 education budget.

The Lucky Winner Shares His Excitement

The winner of the Magnificent 7s scratcher game’s top prize works as a truck driver. He purchased the ticket just after finishing his shift. In fact, Gomes was on his way to buy some chicken for dinner. Undoubtedly, he will always remember this particular visit to the grocery store that made him half a million richer.

Gomes collected his winnings last week. “I really didn’t believe it! It feels great,” he shared with Lottery officials when collecting the $500,000 top prize from Magnificent 7s. Still, it’s important to note that the collected prize is before the applicable taxes in Virginia.

Besides two top prizes, Magnificent 7s has three second-tier prizes of $10,000 each which remain unclaimed. The scratch-off lottery game had five $2,000 prizes but only one remains unclaimed. The price per scratch-off ticket for the game is $10.