2 Stafford women win top lotto prizes, tickets sold in Dale City

Two unrelated Stafford women won the top prizes for two different lottery games and both plan on spending it on a new house.

 Anya Dennis received a phone call from her husband excitingly telling her that they matched all five numbers for the Cash 5 Lottery Game. According to a Virginia Lottery press release, the couple had bought 12 tickets for an upcoming June 14 drawing with all the same numbers.

Since they had won the top prize of $100,000 for those exact five numbers they chose 12 tickets for, they won total winnings of $1.2 million, according to Virginia Lottery’s press release. When officials at Virginia Lottery asked about Dennis’ reaction, she stated the following:

“I was screaming. I thought, ‘This can not be real!’”

The press release states that all 12 winning tickets were bought at the 7-Eleven at 4800 Dale Boulevard in Dale City. The winning numbers for that drawing were 9-13-19-26-29.

Dennis told Virginia Lottery officials that she intends to use the winnings to buy a house and pay for their two daughters’ college. According to the press release, when asked about why Dennis and her husband bought 12 tickets with the same numbers, she stated:

“We just went out on a limb,” she said.

Cash 5 drawings are held daily at 1:59 p.m. and 11 p.m. The odds of winning the $100,000 top prize are 1 in 278,256.

Ironically, another Stafford woman won a lottery game. Michelle Rivera scratched a Lucky 7s Cash Blowout ticket from the Virginia Lottery  and when she realized she’d just won the game’s $2,777,777 top prize, she couldn’t contain her excitement as stated in a Virginia Lottery press release.

“I kept saying, ‘I can’t believe I won!’” she told Lottery officials as she claimed her prize. “The clerk told me to stop saying I won out loud and go home!”

According to the press release, Rivera waited more than four months before redeeming her ticket. She said she took the time to make a financial plan for her winnings.

The Virginia Lottery press release stated that she had the choice of taking the $2,777,777 prize in annual payments over 30 years or a one-time cash option of $1,671,346 before taxes. She chose the annual payments.

The press release stated that she bought her winning ticket at the 7-Eleven at 910 Garrisonville Road in Stafford. Luck 7s Cash Blowout is one of dozens of Scratchers currently offered by the Virginia Lottery.

Lucky 7s features prizes ranging from $20 up to $2,777,777. According to the press release, Rivera is the first player to redeem a top prize winning ticket in this game, which means two more are unclaimed.

The odds of winning that top prize are 1 in 979,200, while the odds of winning any prize in this game are 1 in 3.11. Rivera stated to Virginia Lottery officials that she intends to buy a house and pay off debt with her winnings.