A lucky woman has become a millionaire after she patiently waited for two customers ahead of her to finish fighting and then bought a lottery scratchcard.

Tarsheia Townes from the city of Richmond, in the US state of Virginia, said the two clients in front of her were driving the clerk at the local Fas Stop mad at the time she was waiting to be served.

But as she was eager to try her luck out, she stayed in the store and waited until they finished fighting to buy the Virginia Millions instant ticket.

Later when she scratched it, she was astonished when she uncovered the USD 1 million prize (GBP 794,090), and immediately called her daughter to share the great news.

Tarsheia said in a statement obtained by Newsflash from Virginia Lottery: “I called my daughter and said, ‘Listen, I think I won some money!'”

At lottery headquarters on 15th November, the lucky woman could choose between taking the full prize in annual payments over 30 years or a one-time payment.

She chose the lump sum and went home with USD 571,000 (GBP 453,545) before state and federal taxes.

Virginia Lottery said: “Virginia Millions is a game featuring prizes ranging from USD 20 [GBP 16] to USD 1 million [GBP 794,090].

“It’s one of dozens of scratcher games available from the Virginia Lottery.

“This is the first top prize claimed in the game, which means two more top prizes are unclaimed.

“The chances of winning the top prize are 1 in 612,000. The chances of winning any prize in this game are 1 in 3.5.

“All Virginia Lottery profits go to K-12 education in Virginia.

“Ms Townes lives in Richmond, which received more than USD 21 million [GBP 16 million] in Lottery funds for K-12 education last fiscal year.

“In Fiscal Year 2023, the Lottery raised more than USD 867 million [GBP 688 million] for K-12 education, making up approximately 10 per cent of Virginia’s total K-12 school budget.’