Virginia Lottery Players Win Almost $750 Million
"Every person who plays the Virginia Lottery is important to us, whether they win or not," said Virginia Lottery Executive Director Penelope W. Kyle. "The five who won prizes of at least $1 million were the luckiest and most visible players in 2004."
The five largest prizes of the year included one Mega Millions jackpot, three Lotto South jackpots and one scratch ticket. The winners hailed from Northern Virginia, Richmond, North Carolina and two from the Shenandoah Valley.
* On January 24, Hubert Griffin of Elizabeth City, North Carolina won a $12.6 million Lotto South jackpot. He chose to take the $6.4 million cash option.
* J. R. Triplett of Winchester won the largest prize in the history of the Virginia Lottery when he won the February 20 Mega Millions jackpot, worth $239 million. He took the cash option for $141.5 million.
* On May 7, John "Mac" Dirom of Richmond won the top prize of $1 million in the scratch game Millionaire Party II.
* On November 6, Hector Amaya of Woodbridge won a Lotto South jackpot worth $8.6 million.
* On December 4, Wayne Stickley and Gladys Huddleston of Strasburg won a Lotto South jackpot worth $4.6 million.
All profits from the Virginia Lottery (including Lotto South and Mega Millions tickets sold in Virginia) go to K-12 public school education in the Commonwealth. In fiscal year 2004, the Lottery turned over more than $408 million for Virginia's public schools. For more information, visit http://www.valottery.com.