Rare annuity claim for undercover winner
By Kate Northrop
SUFFOLK, Va. — A Virginia woman showed up at Virginia Lottery offices behind some flashy dollar-sign shades to conceal her appearance while claiming a $1 million prize.
A Virginia engineer demonstrated her understanding of the importance of privacy when she claimed a $1 million prize covered from head to toe in black and the most appropriate spectacles a lottery winner can wear.
Lisa Mojica decided to buy a lottery ticket while she visited Dollar Delites on Hampton Roads Parkway in Suffolk. She purchased a $10 "20X The Money" scratch-off ticket, not realizing that it held the very last top prize of $1 million in the game.
"It's just so surreal and just such a shocking moment!" Mojica described her feelings of winning to Lottery officials.
Although her excitement was clearly evident through her reaction, perhaps it was less apparent behind her cool disguise.
And while Mojica was able to conceal her appearance for her winner's photo, she wouldn't have been able to hide her name from public disclosure. Current Virginia law only permits lottery winners of $10 million or more to remain anonymous.
A bill was signed into law in March that will lower the prize amount threshold for winner anonymity from $10 million to $1 million. The new law goes into effect July 1, 2025.
Mojica had the choice of receiving the prize either as the full $1 million annuitized amount paid out over 30 years or the one-time cash option of $625,000 before taxes. She chose to take the annuity.
For selling the winning ticket, the retailer will receive a $10,000 bonus from the Lottery.
She has no immediate plans for the winnings, the engineer said to Lottery officials.
Since Mojica claimed the sixth and final available top prize in the $10 "20X The Money" scratch-off game, the Lottery announced that the game has been closed. Virginia Lottery policy is to end games once the final top prize is claimed, a press release explains.
The Lottery will keep up-to-date information about the specific game available on their website until the deadline to collect prizes has passed. Otherwise, retailers have been told to stop selling the ticket, according to the Lottery's website.
The overall odds of winning any prize in the game, which launched in September 2022, were 1 in 3.65. The odds of winning the $1 million top prize were 1 in 1,958,400.
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Guess who won a million dollars on a scratch ticket. It is Lisa Mojica who lives somewhere in southern Virginia. She doesn't want anyone to know she won so she dressed in black to conceal her identity. She took the annuity and is getting 22,333.00 a year after taxes. Hordes of people are lining up outside her house as we speak to try to get some of that out of her.
Congrats Lisa !!! Enjoy for many years to come. Great accents ya got there! Especially those spiffy lookin' bifocals...Maybe add some gold gloves on your return trip for the next win.
gotta to love her disguise ROFL
She could have waited till July 1st for full anonymity.
Fine to take the annuity. That amount could be invested and worth far more than the lump sum.
Has Virginia allowed someone to claim in a full disguise before? Might be interesting to add to the anonymity summary. One can wear a disguise for wins so this would be helpful for the less than $1 million prizes. It dilutes that photo requirement.
that painfully bent middle finger in the virginia lottery logo always gets me.
Ouch! I never noticed that!
It must be a secret illuminati symbol.
She forgot to put on some gloves.
What an incredible amount of self discipline that would take to get the 22.333.00 check every April 1st or so for 30 years and every time just deposit it into your brokerage account. How old is she. That matters. I don't know if I could wait 30 years to start spending my lottery money. It would take two years worth of checks to just get a new car now. Probably in 30 years it would take all of them. The point is always take the cash. Always, because you never know how much that money is going to be worth 20 or 30 years later.
you never know what's going on in someone's life that makes them make different choices than you! maybe she gets alimony from an ex husband and doesn't want to have a big jump in income that would make her ex ask the court to recalculate the payment. although her name is on that check, so who knows?
but everyone knows her name now so where"s the anonymity
I'm happy 4 everyone who wins the lottery because when it's my turn .... Baby listen.. G8full
This woman is an engineer with a likely very good salary so she can afford to invest this extra money over the long term. Not everyone feels a need to spend spend spend ASAP with extra money.
People tend to remember images over names so her name will be meaningless to many soon enough.