Virginia man wins $2.5M and $1M on scratch-off tickets just seven years apart
Chad Wyrick
3 min read
CHESAPEAKE, Va. — A Virginia man had a taste of victory back in 2014 when he won $2.5 million on a scratch-off lottery ticket, but nothing said he couldn’t win again.
Last week, Michael Worsham of Chesapeake won his second big instant game prize, a not-too-shabby $1 million, seven years after winning a $2.5 million top prize on another scratch-off game.
Worsham had been having a lucky streak even before he had won his first major prize in 2014. Right before buying the winning “Right on the Money” lottery ticket in December 2014, he had won $100 playing other Virginia Lottery games. He decided to use those winnings to pick out the lucky scratch-off ticket at the 7-Eleven on North Eden Way in Chesapeake.
“It’s one of my favorite games,” Worsham told the Lottery in 2014.
He went out to his car to scratch it off and revealed something he’d never seen before.
“I triple-taked,” he recalled. “I couldn’t believe it.”
Sitting right before him was a lottery ticket worth $2.5 million.
The winner, who owns a small business called Worsham Plumbing, took the game’s top prize as a one-time cash option of $1,437,500 before taxes. He claimed the fifth top prize in the “Right on the Money” game, leaving just one top prize left. With the winnings, he said he hoped to fund his children’s college education.
The convenience store received a $10,000 bonus commission for selling the winning ticket.
Fast forward seven years, and it doesn’t seem like his luck has run out.
Worsham stopped at yet another 7-Eleven convenience store to play the lottery, this one on Butts Station Road in Chesapeake and about a 15-minute drive away from the one he visited in 2014. He picked out a ticket from the $30 “Extreme Millions” instant game.
Similarly to his last big win, he had to do a double-take when he saw what was on his ticket.
“I thought maybe I’d won a hundred dollars,” he told the Lottery as he claimed his second big prize last week. “I looked at it again and said, ‘This is a million!'”
Worsham scooped up a $1 million second prize and took home the cash option of $657,030 before taxes. The 7-Eleven location also fared well, walking away with a $10,000 bonus for selling the winner his lucky lottery ticket.
Now with a second big prize in his pocket, Worsham wants to invest the winnings and take care of his children.
The small business owner claimed the tenth second prize in the “Extreme Millions” game, leaving two more $1 million prizes remaining. The game also features four top prizes of $10 million, three of which have been claimed, and 13 third prizes of $20,000, 11 of which have been claimed. According to the Lottery, $10 million is the largest prize offered in any Virginia Lottery scratch-off game.
The odds of winning the top prize in the “Extreme Millions” game, which launched in October 2017, are about 1 in 2.94 million.
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