Woman wins $2 million lottery prize after being given the wrong scratcher game

Kelly Lindsay wasn’t happy when the clerk at the Race Way gas station in Carrollton, Virginia handed her the wrong scratcher.

She’d been given a Money Blitz card, which wasn’t what she ordered.

She decided to give it a go anyway and discovered she’d just won the game’s $2 million top prize.

“I got over not being happy about it,” she told the lottery officials. She had the choice of taking the full $2 million prize in annual payments over 30 years or a one-time cash option of $1,250,000.

She chose the latter.

The odds of winning the top prize in Virginia’s Money Blitz game is one in 1,142,400, according to the state’s official lottery website.

This is the second top prize claimed in Money Blitz, which means one more top prize is unclaimed.

All Virginia Lottery profits go to K-12 education in Virginia.

While Lindsay made sure to redeem her earnings almost immediately, other winners haven’t been as forthcoming.

The anonymous victor of the fifth-largest Mega Millions jackpot waited nine months before they submitted their $1.128 billion ticket to begin the collection process.

According to NBC New York, the winner had purchased their ticket at a ShopRite in Neptune, New Jersey, back in March 2024. The card’s matching numbers were: 7, 11, 22, 29, 38, and Gold Mega Ball 4.

The jackpot also included a two-time multiplier to the original prize amount.

This was the largest lottery prize in the history of New Jersey and the ninth largest in the U.S. Per New Jersey law, the victor had exactly a year from the date of the drawing to redeem the prize money.

Because of this historic win, the Neptune ShopRite location was awarded a $30,000 bonus.

“It’s an amazing thing when you think about how lucky we are to be the store that sold this ticket. It’s 1 in 302 million; that is the chance of winning this lottery,” Richard Saker, CEO of Saker ShopRites, said in a press conference.

Saker promised to donate the $30,000 to the ShopRite partners in its Caring program, specifically the local food bank FulFill.

“I am very proud to accept this commission check,” he said. “I’m sure the food bank is really going to appreciate this donation.”