Sweeter than chocolate

By Kate Northrop

MANASSAS, Va. — One Virginia woman received the sweetest early Valentine's Day present from her husband — a winning lottery ticket worth $10 million.

What's better than chocolate and flowers on Valentine's Day? Virginia resident Maria Chicas will probably tell you it's the lottery ticket worth $10 million she was gifted from her husband.

A few days before the holiday, Chicas' husband bought a scratch-off ticket at In & Out Mart on Mathis Avenue in Manassas. After scratching it and realizing that it was a winner, he gave his wife a call.

"Aw, you're lying!" she exclaimed when he told her.

The lottery winner gifted her the ticket, which held the fourth and final top prize of $10 million from the $30 "Extreme Millions" game.

"I thought he was joking!" Chicas told the Virginia Lottery when she claimed her prize.

The stay-at-home mother from Haymarket was given the option of either taking the full $10 million prize as an annuity over 30 years or a one-time lump-sum payment of $6,570,302 before taxes. She chose to take the cash option.

The In & Out Mart also received a $50,000 bonus for selling the winning ticket.

Since Chicas claimed the last remaining top prize in the "Extreme Millions" game, which was released in October 2017, the Lottery announced that it is in the process of closing out the game. According to Virginia Lottery policy, scratch-off games are ended once the last top prize is claimed.

According to the Lottery, retailers were told to stop selling the ticket, and that game info will be available on their website until the deadline to collect prizes has passed.

The odds of winning the top prize in the "Extreme Millions" game were 1 in 2,937,600. While the game is officially ending, there were two out of 12 second-tier prizes of $1 million and one out of 13 third-tier prizes of $20,000 left to claim.