A Roanoke woman won a Virginia Lottery drawing not once, but 12 times, bringing her total winnings to $1.2 million.
When Bonnie McNew got the phone call from her husband saying she'd matched all five numbers in the Virginia Lottery's Cash 5 game, she didn't believe him at first.
"I had to see it myself," the Roanoke woman said. "I tried to stay calm."
Winning the game's $100,000 top prize would be amazing enough, but Ms. McNew had bought a dozen $1 plays, each with the same five numbers. That means she won a total of $1.2 million.
"I don't believe it," she said as she redeemed her winning tickets. "I'm still in shock."
She bought all 12 plays for the June 30 day drawing at Roadside Market (owned by Bluehurst LLC), a convenience store located at 10761 W Lynchburg Salem Turnpike in Montvale, according to a Virginia Lottery news release.
The winning numbers were 7, 11, 13, 14, and 29. She selected those numbers using family birthdays.
Ms. McNew, who works as an office manager, said she has no immediate plans for the winnings, except to save towards retirement.
Cash 5 drawing are held daily at 1:59 p.m. and 11:00 p.m. The chances of winning the $100,000 top prize are 1 in 278,256.
Cash 5 winning numbers, as well as those for all other Virginia Lottery draw games, are published at Lottery Post's Virginia Lottery Results page minutes after each drawing.
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Congrats!!!
Well done Bonnie!!!
Wow! The odds of this must be astronomical! She should sell her system for picking her numbers
That's awesome! Good for her! When I have a feeling about certain numbers, I buy multiples of the same numbers too. So far I haven't hit anything big, but it's fun to imagine!
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I don't know. I'm not lucky, ever. All I can do is try again, and again.
I'm sure they'll investigate her. Tipton has helped the lottery become hyper vigilant when anyone wins a large amount.. Repeatedly.
Congrats, glad someone dispelled that birthdays or anniversary dates are rarely drawn.
noise-gate,
A guy I worked for called it 'born under the right star'.
Take a look at her,does that look like someone who has something to hide? what's there to investigate? She won, besides, they only investigate Men.
Coin Toss, that makes so much sense. Why you ask? 'cause each time l look up into the night sky, " my wrong star keeps following me.."
Congratulations Bonnie! Wonder what the liability limit on their lottery is; i.e. when is it capped off, if at all?
Something about gas station wins! Read this morning on CNN a 19 y/o New Yorker scratched a $1 million winner @ a gas station...another story for Todd to post!
they only investigate Men.
that's good to know--even it's not true.
You're not alone there!
I-believe-she-has-a-system...She's-doing-the-"surprise"-bit-to-convince-others-that-there-is-no-system...C'mon..12-times?
The odds against matching five numbers is 278,256 to 1 and exactly the same for players buying 25 cent tickets or multiple $1 tickets. Her system was to play birthday numbers.
Before Rolling Cash5, Ohio had a similar game called Buckeye5 with a jackpot cap of $1M so buying more 10 tickets with the same combination was a waste of money if you matched all five winning numbers. Just before the game ended a guy did that with 13 tickets and was expecting to collect $1.3M, he not only didn't get $1.3M but had to share $1M with another winning ticket.
i tried to win cash 5 few months ago. i had all the numbers. i went to put my money in the machine. the machine took my money and went out of order. i didnot make to another store in time and the drawing happen. i had to take a picture of my money in the machine. the store owner gave me a refund, but i miss another chance of me winning cash 5
Should have posted your picks on the prediction board, at least you would have some creditable bragging rights.
She bought 12 tickets for one day with the same bday numbers, she didn't win 12 different times
Just read the legal rules of this game. Says it is computer generated, a euphemism ((IMO) for an RNG game.
Also stated the liability for each draw is $2 million. Don't know how she beat the computer but so glad someone finally did.
Congratulations
WOW, played the same set of numbers 12 times? Thats ALOT!
I can see replaying the same numbers 2, 3 or even 5 times - but 12!!
Congrats on the GREAT hit
Yep and there was another guy in Ohio who played the four digit number on his motorcycle shipping grate, hit it in the box, got 200 more straight tickets for the next drawings and won $1 million. There were lots of stories on LP about people playing the same PB and MM numbers multiple times and winning too. While it's not the same as hitting a jackpot game with multiple tickets, I always play the same pick-3 number straight multiple times.
I surprised so many LP members don't know some people play the same jackpot game numbers multiple times.
RNG is the abbreviation for "random number generator" so ball drawings are RNG and calling it "computer generated" is just distinguishing between the two. She simply played the same five numbers multiple times and got lucky and won.
Some players rather than choosing to play games with million dollars jackpots, choose a game they think they can win and buy enough tickets to win a million dollars when they win. Although I've never done the math, I suspect the odds of winning a million dollars are the same either way.
I don't do it very often, but once in a while I'll play the same numbers 5 times in All or Nothing. Cost is $10 for a shot at $1.25 million. Odds are 1 in 2,704,156.
That's the best odds for $10 for at least $1 million unless Texas 2 Step rolls that high, which is rare, and also always parimutuel.
The story said she used family birthdays.....
If the odds against matching all five numbers are 1 in 278,256, those odds don't change regardless of how much is bet on those five numbers. The Virginia Cash 5 games allows 25 cent bets to win $25,000 and not bad for systems or wheel players.