A Manassas man who temporarily lost his lottery scratch ticket is a $4 million winner.
According to the Virginia Lottery, Eric De Jesus Lopez had been searching for a scratch ticket he had purchased back in April, which he had lost.
When he found the ticket, he realized that he was the top prize winner in the $4 million Spectacular Riches Scratcher game from the Virginia Lottery.
Lopez purchased the ticket at Centro Market at 2390-E Patrick Henry Drive in Falls Church, according to a release.
“The El Salvador native had been looking for the Scratcher for months and finally found it in a stack of papers in his car when he was on his lunch break. He couldn’t believe it once the top prize was revealed,” stated a release.
Lopez was given an option to take the $4 million prize in 30 annual payments, or to cash out with a one-time payment of $2,571,357, deciding to take the one-time payment to pay off his mortgage and save money for his daughter’s college tuition, as well as starting his own business, according to the Virginia Lottery.
“I was kind of ecstatic. I haven’t even been sleeping because I’ve never seen anything like this in my life,” stated Lopez in a release.
Lopez is the first winner to claim the top prize, and two other top prizes have yet to be claimed.
The chances of winning any prize are 1 in 2.81, according to the Virginia Lottery.
