Virginia Lottery
A Virginia family is cooking up ways to spend their $1 million lottery jackpot.
Springfield local John Afroilan, who works as a cook, decided to pick up an Instant Millionaire ticket from 7-Eleven, lottery officials said in a March 10 news release.
As Afroilan realized he won while he scratched off the ticket numbers in his car, he told lottery officials he was shocked.
“I called my wife. We’re freaking out!” he said to lottery officials.
Afroilan said that he plans to use the money to pay off student loans and set up a college fund for his 2-year-old daughter, according to lottery officials.
“It feels incredible,” he told lottery staff when he went to cash in his prize.
The 7-Eleven that sold the winning ticket gets a $10,000 bonus from the lottery.
The odds of winning the top prize in the Instant Millionaire game are 1-in-1,224,000, according to the Virginia Lottery. Afroilan was the first top prize winner of the game, which has prizes ranging from $50 to $1 million, the lottery said.
Springfield is about 96 miles north of Richmond.
Alison Cutler is a National Real Time Reporter for the Southeast at McClatchy. She graduated from the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Arizona State University and previously worked for The News Leader in Staunton, VA, a branch of USAToday.