Richmond man wins $1 million playing Mega Millions

Drawing Date: 2/21/2014

March 4, 2014 - Woodrow Green doesn’t usually play Mega Millions. When his girlfriend told him he should, he went ahead and bought a ticket for the February 21 drawing. He didn’t know it, but that would turn out to be a million-dollar decision.

A week after the drawing, the Richmond man took his ticket to the Virginia Lottery’s Prize Zone because he thought it might have won a nice prize – maybe even $1,000. But he was wrong. The ticket wasn’t a $1,000 winner. He had matched the first five numbers to win $1 million.

“We had no idea it would be this kind of money,” he said. “I never thought this would happen. I had no idea!”

He bought the winning ticket at Beulah BP Mart, 4224 Beulah Road in Chesterfield County. On March 4, he returned to the store to receive his prize from Virginia Lottery Executive Director Paula Otto. The store received a $10,000 bonus from the Lottery for selling the winning ticket.

The winning numbers were 23-29-32-45-46 and the Mega Ball number was 15. He used Easy Pick, allowing the computer to select the numbers on his ticket at random. Had he matched that final number, he would have won a Mega Millions jackpot estimated at $172 million.

Mr. Green, who works as an auto detailer, said he has no immediate plans for his winnings.

“It feels great,” he said. “I’m still trying to comprehend what just happened."