Photo: Virginia LotteryWhen Ashburn, Virginia, resident Carrie Walls first scratched off her lottery ticket on Aug 12, she didn’t win.But instead of throwing it away, she gave it another try. She entered her ticket in a “second chance” lottery — a drawing of other losing tickets.And … she won!The raffle of more than 550,000 entries was held Dec. 4. When Walls, an Air Force veteran, received the email that she was a winner, “she thought it was spam,” she told Virginia Lottery spokesman John Hagerty.Then she saw the truth posted on the lottery website.“I cried. I couldn’t believe it,” she told Hagerty of the moment she discovered she’d won the drawing.On Friday, Walls picked up her check for $100,000 and a new white 2018 Ford Expedition.The money is especially fortuitous for Walls’ family: She said her husband isa furloughed federal employeenot receiving a paycheck amida nearly month-long government shutdownwith no clear end.“Obviously, the timing on this could not have been better,” Hagerty tells PEOPLE.Walls, who did not respond to PEOPLE’s request for an interview, told Hagerty that she and her husband were planning to take their kids to Disney World — and now they have a way to get there: in their new car.“We love it whenever there’s a big winner. But most big winners don’t get this kind of attention,” Hagerty says. “It’s one of the fun things that we do at the lottery is hand out big prizes like this. I hope they enjoy it.”
Photo: Virginia Lottery
When Ashburn, Virginia, resident Carrie Walls first scratched off her lottery ticket on Aug 12, she didn’t win.But instead of throwing it away, she gave it another try. She entered her ticket in a “second chance” lottery — a drawing of other losing tickets.And … she won!The raffle of more than 550,000 entries was held Dec. 4. When Walls, an Air Force veteran, received the email that she was a winner, “she thought it was spam,” she told Virginia Lottery spokesman John Hagerty.Then she saw the truth posted on the lottery website.“I cried. I couldn’t believe it,” she told Hagerty of the moment she discovered she’d won the drawing.On Friday, Walls picked up her check for $100,000 and a new white 2018 Ford Expedition.The money is especially fortuitous for Walls’ family: She said her husband isa furloughed federal employeenot receiving a paycheck amida nearly month-long government shutdownwith no clear end.“Obviously, the timing on this could not have been better,” Hagerty tells PEOPLE.Walls, who did not respond to PEOPLE’s request for an interview, told Hagerty that she and her husband were planning to take their kids to Disney World — and now they have a way to get there: in their new car.“We love it whenever there’s a big winner. But most big winners don’t get this kind of attention,” Hagerty says. “It’s one of the fun things that we do at the lottery is hand out big prizes like this. I hope they enjoy it.”
When Ashburn, Virginia, resident Carrie Walls first scratched off her lottery ticket on Aug 12, she didn’t win.
But instead of throwing it away, she gave it another try. She entered her ticket in a “second chance” lottery — a drawing of other losing tickets.
And … she won!
The raffle of more than 550,000 entries was held Dec. 4. When Walls, an Air Force veteran, received the email that she was a winner, “she thought it was spam,” she told Virginia Lottery spokesman John Hagerty.
Then she saw the truth posted on the lottery website.
“I cried. I couldn’t believe it,” she told Hagerty of the moment she discovered she’d won the drawing.
On Friday, Walls picked up her check for $100,000 and a new white 2018 Ford Expedition.
The money is especially fortuitous for Walls’ family: She said her husband isa furloughed federal employeenot receiving a paycheck amida nearly month-long government shutdownwith no clear end.
“Obviously, the timing on this could not have been better,” Hagerty tells PEOPLE.
Walls, who did not respond to PEOPLE’s request for an interview, told Hagerty that she and her husband were planning to take their kids to Disney World — and now they have a way to get there: in their new car.
“We love it whenever there’s a big winner. But most big winners don’t get this kind of attention,” Hagerty says. “It’s one of the fun things that we do at the lottery is hand out big prizes like this. I hope they enjoy it.”
source: people.com
