Virginia lottery player shocked after finding winning Mega Millions ticket in nightstand
Portsmouth, Virginia, woman didn't check the ticket until five weeks after playing lottery game
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A Virginia woman became a millionaire after she recently discovered a weeks-old lottery ticket sitting inside her nightstand.
Portsmouth resident Melena Hill purchased a Mega Millions lottery ticket ahead of the Jan. 9 drawing at the Murphy USA gas station in Suffolk, according to a press release from the Virginia Lottery. The winning numbers were 12-15-32-33-53, with the sixth Mega Ball number being 24.
Hill used numbers that were randomly selected by the computer that she purchased the ticket on, according to the press release.
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While she didn't hit the Mega Ball number, Hill did spend an extra dollar on her ticket that ended up going very far, lottery officials explained.
Portsmouth resident Melena Hill won a $3 million sum, thanks to a lucky lottery ticket she found inside her nightstand. (Virginia Lottery / Fox News)
"That would normally win a $1 million prize," the press release said. "However, she spent an extra dollar for the Megaplier when she bought the ticket."
"That extra buck tripled her prize to $3 million."
Hill told lottery officials that she was in extreme shock after she found out that her five-week-old lottery ticket was worth millions.
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Mega Millions is America's biggest jackpot game. It is held in more than 40 U.S. states and has jackpots starting at $12 million. (Mega Millions lottery / Fox News)
"My stomach had butterflies. I screamed a little bit!" she said.
Virginia Lottery officials said that the chances of matching the first five numbers in a Mega Millions drawing are 1 in 12,607,306.
Had Hill selected the winning Mega Ball number, she would have beat odds of 1 in 302,575,350.
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Hill said she "screamed" and had "butterflies" after learning that she was $3 million richer. ( Justin Sullivan/Getty Images / Getty Images)
Lottery officials explained that the state of Virginia uses lottery profits to fund Old Dominion's education system.
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"All Virginia Lottery profits go to K-12 education in Virginia. Ms. Hill lives in Portsmouth, which received more than $16.4 million in Lottery funds for K-12 education last fiscal year," Virginia Lottery's website states. "In Fiscal Year 2023, the Lottery raised more than $867 million for K-12 education, making up approximately 10 percent of Virginia’s total K-12 school budget."
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