Hampton man wins top Virginia Lottery prize
Tuesday February 15th 2011A Virginia Lottery player is thanking his lucky stars after deciding to buy lotto tickets last week and scooping $100,000. Sidney Hawkins was at the West Mercury Shell gas station in Hampton, when he bought a $5 10x The Money instant scratchcard. That life-changing decision meant that Mr Hawkins beat odds of one in almost 800,000 to become the fourth and final Virginia Lottery player to find one of the game’s top prizes.
Now the last jackpot prize has been found, lottery officials have removed the instant game from sale.
Mr Hawkins isn’t the only lottery player to find himself in the money however. Patty Jensen from Waterloo, Iowa, claimed a prize of $30,000 last Thursday. The 53-year-old told lottery officials she had bought a Crossword instant ticket on her birthday which turned out to be a jackpot winner.
She said: "I thought I’d just won $3,000. I counted and re-counted and called my niece. I said ‘Jenny, I think I’ve just won $3,000’ and she didn’t believe me. She said ‘Aunt Patty, I think you’ve got ten words which is $30,000!’”.
Ms Jensen plans to spend some of the cash on a new set of tyres for her car, and also has plans to renovate her house.