A retired marine was not sure whether to laugh or cry after winning USD 150,000 on the lottery, but finding out that if his last number had been correct as well, he would have won the USD 461 million (GBP 376 million) jackpot.

William Malashevich from the town of Wytheville, Virginia State, USA, could not believe his luck when he realised he had won a prize, but at the same time had just missed about by one number to scoop the jackpot.

He ended with a USD 150,000 (GBP 122,526) prize instead for the ticket bought at his local Go Mart store on 6th September.

And since he did not have any particular set of numbers on his mind, he reportedly used the Easy Pick option and let the computer randomly select the numbers on his ticket.

But he was shocked when he later checked it, and found out he had matched four out of numbers 9, 14, 20, 23, and 63, as well as Powerball number 1.

William said in a statement obtained by Newsflash from Virginia Lottery: “I hit them all but one!”

Upon collecting the winnings at lottery headquarters, the winner said: “I’m numb!”

He did not reveal how he plans to spend the money.

Virginia Lottery representatives said: “Powerball drawings are held at 10.59pm, Mondays, Wednesdays and Saturdays.

“The odds of matching all six numbers to win the jackpot are 1 in 292.2 million. The overall odds of winning any Powerball prize are 1 in 25.

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

“Mr. Malashevich lives in Wythe County, which received more than USD 3.3 million [GBP 2.7 million] in Lottery funds for K-12 education last fiscal year.

“In Fiscal Year 2023, the Lottery raised more than USD 867 million [GBP 707 million] for K-12 education, making up approximately 10 percent of Virginia’s total K-12 school budget.”