Virginia Lottery Winners
Virginia has fared very well in multi-state lotteries, with players picking up huge amounts across both Powerball and Mega Millions. Millions of dollars are also raised for K-12 public education from Virginia lotteries. Here’s a list of the state's largest lottery winners:
$239 million
Virginia couple J.R. and Peggy Triplett’s win was, at the time, the second-largest win by a single ticket in U.S. lottery history. J.R was a retired truck driver who had bought five tickets near his home in Winchester. After one of the tickets came back as a winner, he shocked reporters by stating that it was “no big thing to me”. He went on to say he would carry on playing the lottery despite winning this life-changing amount of money.
$217 million
Dave and Nancy Honeywell were both working for the department of defense when they claimed the largest Powerball win in Virginia. Dave chose his numbers through a 'Number Generator' on his computer. They chose to take the one-time cash option of $136.4 million before taxes.
$200 million
This incredible win was claimed by Steve Williams of Shenandoah, five months after the initial draw took place. Williams chose to consult various financial advisers before deciding to collect his winnings, announcing that he was planning on investing the money. The store in which the ticket was sold also received a $50,00 retailer bonus.
$161 Million
The winner of Virginia’s second-highest Powerball win chose to remain anonymous. Virginians who win over $10 million in the lottery have this option by state law. This prize went unclaimed for around four months before finally being picked up in July. The owner of the store where the ticket was purchased, Andy Gill, stated “we’re so happy for our customers. Whoever won it, won it here in Pulaski County in our itty-bitty store.”
$107 million
High school graduate Brian McCarthy bought his lottery ticket from a lottery self-service machine in Herndon using an ‘Easy Pick’ function to select the numbers for him. He chose to play Mega Millions by chance while he was making an ATM withdrawal, where he noticed that the Virginia Lottery area was next to the ATM. McCarthy chose to take the cash option of $68.4 million rather than receive 26 annual instalments.
Other Big Virginia Lottery Winners
Virginia’s other games do not offer quite the same huge sums, but the odds of winning are better and you can still claim some extraordinary payouts. Here are some of the biggest wins:
$1,000 a Day for Life
Cash4Life offers a jackpot a $1,000 a day for the rest of your lifetime, or a lump sum of $7 million. One player to win the top prize was Virginia Beach man Paul Johnson, who matched all the numbers in the draw on April 13, 2024. He bought his ticket at Millers, 1900 Centreville Turnpike in Virginia Beach, and discovered he had won while watching basketball on TV. He woke up his wife to give her the good news and admitted she ‘thought I was playing’.
$1.6 million
The largest Cash 5 jackpot of all time came in 2024, and was worth $1.6 million. It took just six and a half weeks for the prize to build up after it had been previously won in late April. The lucky ticket that matched all the numbers was sold at a Wawa along Compass Point Lane in Mechanicsville, Virginia.
$1 million
Aaron Andrews, from Prince William County, received a winning Cash4Life ticket from his father as a wedding present. Aaron and his new wife had been living with his dad since their wedding a couple of months earlier and, after finding out his ticket was a big winner, the father decided that giving it to his son was ‘the best way to get him out of my basement’. The ticket, bought at PJ’s Neighborhood Variety Store, 19122-A Fuller Heights Road in Triangle, matched the first five numbers and Aaron decided to take the $1 million lump sum.