Virginia college student who "never wins" lands a $500,000 scratch-off lottery prize

Aug 31, 2023, 3:55 pm (9 comments)

Virginia Lottery

Lucky student picks out a top prize-winning lottery ticket

By Kate Northrop

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. — A Virginia woman who very rarely picks up a lottery ticket because she doesn't understand them found success with one particular scratch-off that landed her a $500,000 prize.

Virginia Beach resident Lilian Gutierrez Silva says she doesn't think much about playing the lottery, but perhaps the ticket she bought on a whim that ended up winning a $500,000 prize might change her mind.

"I never win!" she told the Virginia Lottery.

Silva was at Malbon Brothers Corner Mart on General Booth Boulevard in Virginia Beach when her cousin bought a lottery ticket, so she thought about giving it a try too.

She picked out a bright and colorful "Funky Fortune" ticket for $10. After scratching it off, she handed it to her cousin.

"I showed the ticket to my cousin and said, 'Tell me if I won or not," she said.

She did, in fact, win the game's $500,000 top prize.

When Silva showed up at Lottery headquarters in Richmond to claim her prize, she said the winnings would help pay for her education.

Silva claimed the first top prize of $500,000 in the "Funky Fortune" game, leaving two more top prizes for other players to win. There are also three out of four second-tier prizes of $10,000 and eight out of 12 third-tier prizes of $2,000 left to claim in the game, which launched in April.

The lucky student beat the odds of 1 in 1,224,000 to win the game's top prize. The chances of winning any prize are 1 in 4.12.

News story photo(Click to display full-size in gallery)

Lottery Post Staff

Comments

JustMaybe

Happy for the winner - if they are wise, they could graduate student loan free 🤣🤣

sully16's avatarsully16

Beginners Luck, Congrats and I hope she has great success in life.🥳

dickblow

congrats

Brock Lee's avatarBrock Lee

that's a good cousin she's got there.

JustMaybe

Quote: Originally posted by Brock Lee on Aug 31, 2023

that's a good cousin she's got there.

Hahaha so true - a bad one would have been like "Am sorry Lilian, but you won zero on this one, I will just take the card and do some craft work with it - at least make something out of the loss - am so sorry Lilian, can I give you a hug?" 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

Artist77's avatarArtist77

Quote: Originally posted by JustMaybe on Sep 1, 2023

Hahaha so true - a bad one would have been like "Am sorry Lilian, but you won zero on this one, I will just take the card and do some craft work with it - at least make something out of the loss - am so sorry Lilian, can I give you a hug?" 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

And an ever badder one...Let's ask the store clerk what he thinks.

JustMaybe

Quote: Originally posted by Artist77 on Sep 1, 2023

And an ever badder one...Let's ask the store clerk what he thinks.

Store clerk checks the scratch card and faints because of the immense grief from the loss 🤣🤣🤣🤣

sully16's avatarsully16

Quote: Originally posted by JustMaybe on Sep 1, 2023

Hahaha so true - a bad one would have been like "Am sorry Lilian, but you won zero on this one, I will just take the card and do some craft work with it - at least make something out of the loss - am so sorry Lilian, can I give you a hug?" 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

🤣

welington

Some folks got all the luck 🤞 . Congratulations 👏🎉🎉 on the win

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