Lightning strikes twice, better the second time around
By Kate Northrop
CARROLLTON, Va. — Lightning struck twice for one Virginia woman, who won $1 million on a lottery scratch-off within three years of winning a $100,000 prize in another game.
Gayla Guishard did it again, except this year's $1 million win is even more impressive than the $100,000 lottery prize she scooped up in 2021.
It was quite the scene at the Race Way gas station on Carrollton Boulevard in Carrollton, where Guishard had found out she won a million dollars on one Friday night.
"I just kind of screamed!" she told the Virginia Lottery. "We were all in there screaming!"
The commotion was caused by one $20 "Virginia Millions" ticket Guishard had bought that night and scratched off in the store. She asked the store owners to check the ticket, which was when they discovered it was a winner of a $1 million top prize.
Bystanders who heard the ruckus went into the store to see what it was all about, but Guishard wasn't too keen on spreading the word.
"We said, 'Nothing!', and we got really quiet," she related.
This is the second time Guishard took home a huge prize from the Virginia Lottery. In 2021, she was one of the lucky winners of a $100,000 prize in Virginia's New Year's Millionaire Raffle.
This time, Guishard had the option of taking the full $1 million as annuitized payments over 30 years or as a one-time cash option of $571,000 before taxes. She opted to take the lump sum, the Lottery advised Lottery Post.
She's not the only winner — the Race Way receives a $10,000 bonus for selling the top prize-winning ticket.
Guishard won the second available top prize of $1 million in the $20 "Virginia Millions" game, leaving just one more top prize to claim. There are also seven out of 12 second-tier prizes of $10,000 and 2,053 out of 4,598 third-tier prizes of $500 remaining in the game, which launched in November 2023.
The overall odds of winning any prize in the game are about 1 in 3.5.
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Congratulations nice win. But why give a clerk to check for someone who won before
Congratulations!
Even though her name is plastered all over the place, at least she has a three part disguise on.
Awesome sauce, now go for the hat trick, congrats to the lucky lady.
Congrats on the double win.
From the story, one could make the assumption that she plays scratch cards a lot.
This can be followed by the assumption that she knows a winning combination and therefore knew that the ticket was a big winner.
She therefore wanted a second confirmation with the store clerk that indeed it's a winner 🤣
Congratulations!
From $ 1 million down to $ 571000 and then finally she will get $ 327000. It means in US lottery,you won't get what you see haha ..
Wow, Congratulations! Even though no one wears a mask where I live, I will certainly be wearing one when I go claim my jackpot prize someday, along with a hat and wig probably!