Lucky penny leads to lottery windfall of $1 million-plus for Virginia man
A Virginia man had an incredible stroke of luck after he won the top prize in a scratcher game – which he scratched off with a "lucky penny" he found in a parking lot.
A Virginia man found what could possibly be the luckiest penny ever — and won more than a million dollars.
Timothy Clougherty of Accomack County, Virginia bought a "$10,000 a Month" scratcher lottery game at Bloxom Mini Mart, a convenience store in Bloxom.
Accomack County is one of two counties that make up Virginia's Eastern Shore.
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Clougherty spotted a penny in the parking lot of the Bloxom Mini Mart — and when he got home, he used the penny to scratch off his ticket, he told the Virginia Lottery website.
After he scratched off the ticket, he could not believe his luck: He had won the grand prize of $10,000 a month for the next 10 years.
"It took a week to really start sinking in," he told the Virginia Lottery when he went to collect his prize.
Clougherty opted to choose a one-time lump sump payment of $1,028,000, said the Virginia Lottery.
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Clougherty claimed his prize on April 29, 2024, said the Virginia Lottery's website.
The "$10,000 a Month" game debuted on January 2, said the Virginia Lottery's website.
Each play costs $20.
Two of the three top prizes are yet to be claimed, the lottery said, and six of the second-highest $10,000 prizes have not been claimed.
Thousands of other prizes, ranging from $5,000 to $20, are unclaimed, said the Virginia Lottery's website.
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The chance of winning the top prize is 1 in 612,000, the Virginia Lottery reported – and the chances of winning any prize at all in the game are 1 in 2.95.
The Virginia Lottery was established in 1987, after Virginians voted in favor of creating a state-operated lottery.
The first tickets were sold the following year, said the Virginia Lottery's website.
Since 1999, the Virginia Lottery's profits have supported K-12 public education in the commonwealth, said its website.
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In 2023, this amounted to more than $867 million that went to public education in the state.
This was about 10% of the commonwealth's budget for K-12 schools, said the Virginia Lottery's website.
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These funds are distributed throughout Virginia's counties.
Accomack County, where Clougherty lives, received more than $6 million from the Virginia Lottery last year, the site noted.
FOX Business reached out to the Virginia Lottery for additional comment.
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