“We just looked at each other in shock!”
That’s how Michael Horner described the moment he and his wife discovered he’d just won the $1 million prize in the Virginia Lottery’s Red Hot Millions Scratcher .
“We couldn’t believe it!” he said.
Earlier in the day, when his wife was leaving the house, he asked her to pick up a ticket for him. That ticket turned out to be the big winner. It was bought at the Roadrunner Market at 194444 U.S. Highway 58 in Castlewood. The store receives a $10,000 bonus from the Virginia Lottery for selling the winning ticket.
Red Hot Millions is one of the Million$ series of Scratcher games from the Virginia Lottery. This is the third and final top prize claimed in the Million$ series, which means it is being closed. It is the Virginia Lottery’s policy to end Scratcher games after the last available top prize is claimed. The odds of winning that top prize were 1 in 1,305,600, while the odds of winning any prize in this game were 1 in 3.91.
Mr. Horner had the choice of taking the full $1 million in annual payments over 30 years or a one-time cash option of $602,410 before taxes. He chose the cash option.
The St. Paul man said he has no immediate plans for his winnings.