HAMPTON ROADS, Va. - Just call them the "Magnificent Seven!"
A group of Hampton Roads-area friends just claimed the largest prize ever in the Virginia Lottery’s Cash 5 with EZ Match game.
“It feels incredible!” said Ryan Nguyen of Chesapeake as he and his amazed friends gathered at the Virginia Lottery’s customer service center in Hampton to redeem the winning ticket.
The group members told the Virginia Lottery they often pool their money to play this game. One of those tickets matched all five winning numbers in the January 20 drawing, which had grown to a record amount: $1,008,842!
Shortly after the 11 p.m. drawing, word spread quickly among group members that they’d hit the jackpot.
“There was no sleeping last night!” Ryan told Lottery officials.
The other members of the group - Duc Nguyen, Doan Tran, Tien Ho, Trinh Tran, Hong Ho and Thi Nguyen - are all from Virginia Beach.
The ticket was bought at the Food Lion in the Great Neck Village Shopping Center on North Great Neck Road in Virginia Beach. The store receives a $10,000 bonus from the Virginia Lottery for selling the winning ticket.
The winning numbers were 5-14-24-27-41. The numbers on the ticket were selected at random using Easy Pick.
Magnificent!
