North Carolina Man Wins Small "Fortune" With Fortune Cookie Numbers!
April 12, 2006
Phillip Shea of Cary, North Carolina, was out of town for the Friday, April 7, Mega Millions drawing. He and his wife, Mega Millions tickets in hand, were visiting with his foster mother and her husband in York, Pennsylvania.
"Our families always buy tickets together," said Shea of his foster mother, Vicki Spencer. "She'll buy lottery tickets in Pennsylvania and I buy them in Virginia. We'd always agreed to split the money, but we never actually thought we'd win!"
Win they did - $250,000 to be exact! "Phil had gone back home and when he called to tell me we'd won, I didn't believe him - he sounded too calm," said Spencer. "So my husband, Harry, got on the phone with a friend and had him check the numbers on the computer. Sure enough.it was true!"
The pair won the second highest prize in the game by matching the first five numbers. The winning numbers for that drawing were 01-18-31-46-52 and the Mega Ball number was 37. Their ticket only missed the Mega Ball number.
Shea purchased the winning ticket at Apple Market, located at 6015 Huell Matthews Highway in South Boston. "I used numbers from a fortune cookie to select the numbers," said Shea.
The two families have a variety of plans for their winnings including some travel, some investments and maybe a trip to the jewelry store for Mr. Shea's wife, Natalie!
All profits from the Virginia Lottery, including Mega Millions tickets sold in Virginia, go to K-12 public school education in the Commonwealth. In fiscal year 2005 the Lottery turned over more than $423 million for Virginia's public schools, representing about 10 percent of state funding for Virginia's K-12 public schools. For more information, visit www.valottery
