An amazed lotto winner has told how he scooped USD 500,000 on a lotto scratchcard on his way home to feed his dogs.
Plumber Robert Lane, from the city of Chesapeake, in the US state of Virginia, was on his way home to feed his four dogs when he stopped at the 7-Eleven at 536 Kempsville Road to buy something to drink.
At the store, he also picked up some scratchcards, and checked them while he fed the dogs.
And he was astonished when one came up trumps with a jackpot worth half a million dollars (GBP 398,220).
Overjoyed Robert was so thrilled he says he howled with delight in front of his bemused pups.
He explained in a statement obtained by Newsflash from Virginia Lottery: “They were looking at me like I was crazy.”
When he collected his winnings at Virginia Lottery headquarters on Monday, 30th October he said he plans to splash out on a new car.
Virginia Lottery representatives said: “The Precious Gems Series features prizes ranging from USD 10 [GBP 8] to USD 500,000 [GBP 398,220].
“Tickets can be Sapphire, Diamond, Ruby or Emerald. This is the second top prize claimed in the game, which means one more top prize is unclaimed.
“The chances of winning the top prize are 1 in 816,000. The chances of winning any prize in this game are 1 in 3.83.
“All Virginia Lottery profits go to K-12 education in Virginia. Chesapeake received more than USD 27.2 million [GBP 21.6 million] in Lottery funds for K-12 education last fiscal year.
“In Fiscal Year 2023, the Lottery raised more than USD 867 million [GBP 690 million] for K-12 education, making up approximately 10 per cent of Virginia’s total K-12 school budget.”
