The Virginia Lottery says players won just under $750 million dollars in prizes during the last calendar year.

Five winners became millionaires.

According to lottery officials, the five largest prizes of 2004 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.

The biggest prize was a Mega Millions jackpot of $239 million dollars, the largest prize in the history of the Virginia Lottery.  It was won in February by J-R Triplett of Winchester.  He took the cash option for $141.5 million dollars.

The other four millionaires were:

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• Hubert Griffin of Elizabeth City, North Carolina, who won a $12.6 million Lotto South jackpot on January 24.  He chose to take the $6.4 million cash option.
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• John "Mac" Dirom of Richmond, who won the top prize of $1 million in the scratch game Millionaire Party II on May 7.
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• Hector Amaya of Woodbridge, who won a Lotto South jackpot worth $8.6 million on November 6.
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• Wayne Stickley and Gladys Huddleston of Strasburg, who won a Lotto South jackpot worth $4.6 million on December 4.

All profits from the Virginia Lottery go to K-through-12 public school education. In fiscal year 2004, the Lottery turned over more than $408 million dollars for Virginia's public schools.