Wrong ticket leads to the right fortune

By Kate Northrop

CARROLLTON, Va. — A Virginia woman was not happy when a convenience store cashier handed her the wrong lottery ticket, but that feeling faded away when she won a $2 million prize.

Kelly Lindsay did not receive the ticket she asked for, but that mistake ended up being a happy accident when it turned out to be a winner for a $2 million top prize.

Lindsay had asked for her favorite Virginia Lottery scratch-off game while at the Raceway on Carrollton Boulevard in Carrollton, but the clerk gave her a $20 "Money Blitz" ticket instead. She went out to the parking lot to play the game, and that's when her annoyance faded away.

"And I got over not being happy about it!" Lindsay recounted to Lottery officials while claiming her prize.

The gleeful Carrollton resident had a choice: take the full $2 million prize in annual payments over 30 years or the one-time cash option of $1.25 million before taxes. She opted for the cash option.

Lindsay beat the odds of 1 in 1,142,400 to scoop the game's second top prize, of which there are three total. That leaves just one top prize of $2 million somewhere out there.

There are also three out of six second-tier prizes of $20,000 and 71 out of 140 third-tier prizes of $2,000 remaining in the $20 "Money Blitz" game, which launched in October 2022.

The overall odds of winning any prize in the game are 1 in 3.29.

(Click to display full-size in gallery)Kelly Lindsay did not receive the ticket she asked for, but that mistake ended up being a happy accident when it turned out to be a winner for a $2 million top prize.