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July 27, 2010
 Joseph Daniels of Virginia Beach had a funny feeling. He thought to himself, “I feel lucky today.”
That was just before he won $1 million.
Mr. Daniels bought five Virginia’s $5 Million Club tickets from the Virginia Lottery. When he scratched the last one, it turned out to be a $1 million winner. The $1 million prize is an annuity paid out over 25 years; he chose to take the cash option of $642,000 before taxes.
It happened on July 22, when he made his usual morning stop at Jr. Market at 1756 Sandbridge Road in Virginia Beach. Five days later, he returned to the store to accept his prize from Virginia Lottery Deputy Director Richard Williams. The store received a $10,000 bonus for selling the ticket.
Mr. Daniels, who works as finance manager at a car dealership, said he plans to use his winnings to pay off his mortgage.
Virginia’s $5 Million Club is a unique game for the Virginia Lottery because $1 million is actually the second prize. The game’s top prize is $5 million. One $5 million ticket has been claimed so far, which means four top-prize tickets have not been redeemed. Since Mr. Daniels is the game’s second $1 million winner, eight million-dollar tickets remain unclaimed.
Nearly 95 cents of each dollar spent on the Virginia Lottery by players goes back to the Commonwealth in the form of contributions to education, prizes and retailer commissions. Since 1999, all Virginia Lottery profits have been designated solely to K-12 public school education in the Commonwealth. In that time, the Lottery has turned over more than $4 billion for Virginia’s public schools. The latest annual profits of $439.1 million currently represent about 8 percent of state funding for public education in Virginia. In 21 years, the Lottery has sold more than $21.1 billion in tickets, awarded more than $1.1 billion in retailer commissions and paid more than $11.6 billion in prizes to players.
Follow the Virginia Lottery on Facebook and Twitter. Please play responsibly.
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