Lorton Man Breaks Up COVID Monotony With $1M Virginia Lottery Win

LORTON, VA — A Lorton man and his wife started a routine of scratching Virginia Lottery tickets midweek to add some excitement to their day during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The weekly ritual paid off big recently when Sean Davis and his wife learned that he had scratched a $1 Million Royale ticket and found he had won the $1 million top prize.

“It just sort of became our Wednesday night thing to break up the monotony of COVID life,” Davis told the Virginia Lottery.

“I didn’t believe it,” he told Virginia Lottery officials as he claimed the prize. “I was in shock more than excited.”

Davis bought the winning ticket at the 7-Eleven at 8228 Gunston Corner Lane in Lorton.

He had the choice of taking the full $1 million in annual payments over 30 years or a one-time cash option of $601,684 before taxes. He chose the cash option. The store received a $10,000 bonus from the Virginia Lottery for selling the winning ticket.

The $1 Million Royale is one of dozens of Scratchers available from the Virginia lottery. It features prizes ranging from $30 to $1 million. 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 3.72. This is the second top prize claimed in the $1 Million Royale game, which means two more remain unclaimed.

The Virginia Lottery generates more than $1.6 million per day for Virginia’s K-12 public schools. In the fiscal year ending June 30, 2020, lottery customers helped generate more than $595 million dollars in funding for public education.