![18-year-old buys first lottery ticket four days after her birthday, wins $25,000](https://www.wsls.com/resizer/9KIIP-ePpT9EHm57cy1tnBGvULk=/932x524/smart/filters:format(jpeg):strip_exif(true):strip_icc(true):no_upscale(true):quality(65)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/gmg/EMS5U3AC2NHOTAVF4GF3FURA44.jpg)
18-year-old buys first lottery ticket four days after her birthday, wins $25,000
Sloan Stanley was barely old enough to even buy a $5 Cash Cow lottery ticket, having turned 18 just four days prior. (Source: Kansas Lottery)TOPEKA, Kan. โ Sloan Stanley likes cows and thinks they are cute. And her favor towards cattle ultimately paid off when she won $25,000 in the Kansas Lottery, according to FOX 5 Atlanta. Stanley was barely old enough to even buy a $5 Cash Cow lottery ticket, having turned 18 just four days prior. โI bought the Cash Cow ticket because I like cows and thought it was cute,โ Stanley said in a news release.
![Florida father wins $2 million from $10 scratch-off ticket](https://www.wsls.com/resizer/8UcTX-k7uNGbVDEqEz9cdqKUb_Q=/1600x900/smart/filters:format(jpeg):strip_exif(true):strip_icc(true):no_upscale(true):quality(65)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/gmg/MYPVIY4SLNAH5GG577DXH6DYXE.jpg)
Florida father wins $2 million from $10 scratch-off ticket
FILE - Year of the scratch-off: More than half of winning tickets worth at least $600 claimed in 2020DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. โ James Wilkerson walked into a gas station with $10 for a scratch-off ticket. The 31-year-old Daytona Beach father claimed the first $2 million top prize from the new $10 GOLD RUSH SUPREME Scratch-Off game. He bought the ticket at the Speedway gas station, located at 1102 West Granada Boulevard in Ormond Beach. He says he plans to invest the money in his family and his familyโs business. โI also plan to use some of my winnings to invest in my familyโs auto business!โAdThe retailer will receive a $4,000 bonus commission for selling the winning ticket.
![$1 billion Mega Millions jackpot has a winner](https://www.wsls.com/resizer/IBmSRYbOLRT_aQLXu6C7ZPpwzes=/1600x1066/smart/filters:format(jpeg):strip_exif(true):strip_icc(true):no_upscale(true):quality(65)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/gmg/45EXDM5WWJFR3HYMZYLOYX7D7I.jpg)
$1 billion Mega Millions jackpot has a winner
MICHIGAN โ Thereโs winning and then thereโs winning big. Fridayโs Mega Millions jackpot was one the most valuable lottery jackpots ever, according to organizers. The largest single jackpot winner hit the Mega Millions numbers for $1.537 billion in late 2018. The Mega Millions jackpot has been climbing in value since September, when it was reset to $20 million after a $120 million win. This was the longest stretch with no winner in the history of the game, Mega Millions officials said in a statement.
![$1B Mega Millions prize a result of long odds, slow sales](https://www.wsls.com/resizer/ZPX1enwUzzsRCaitj6h44ajn0z0=/1600x1066/smart/filters:format(jpeg):strip_exif(true):strip_icc(true):no_upscale(true):quality(65)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/gmg/K7ZNEB4G5ZHJ7MFIVARH7X4BSE.jpg)
$1B Mega Millions prize a result of long odds, slow sales
Blank forms for the Mega Millions lottery sit in a bin at a local grocery store, Tuesday, Jan. 12, 2021, in Des Moines, Iowa. Itโs only the third time a lottery jackpot has grown so large, but much has changed since the last time such a big prize was up for grabs in 2018. After a peak in October 2018, Medenica said sales of the big lottery games dropped about 50%, prompting talk among lottery officials about jackpot fatigue. Sales of Mega Millions and Powerball continued to decline after the virus hit along with other lottery games, but while scratch tickets and other instant games rebounded strongly later in the year, national game sales remained moribund. Itโs hard to fathom how unlikely it is to beat odds of one in 292.2 million for Powerball or one in 302.5 million for Mega Millions.
![Hard-luck Maryland town gets a $731.1 million Powerball win](https://www.wsls.com/resizer/RgWVlxGLbPu8yRnnAbcC5OO1Y5A=/1600x1066/smart/filters:format(jpeg):strip_exif(true):strip_icc(true):no_upscale(true):quality(65)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/gmg/G6J5OWHBYZFMTCOYRAFNEZWIZE.jpg)
Hard-luck Maryland town gets a $731.1 million Powerball win
Blank forms for the Powerball lottery sit in a bin at a local grocery store, Tuesday, Jan. 12, 2021, in Des Moines, Iowa. The store will get a $100,000 bonus for selling the ticket to the fifth-largest lottery prize in U.S. history. Just who will collect the Powerball prize may never be known: Maryland is one of the states that allow winners to remain anonymous. The Powerball jackpot came only a day after nobody won the $970 million Mega Millions prize, the third-largest prize in U.S. history. Most winners opt for cash prizes, which for Mega Millions would be $716.3 million and $546.8 million for Wednesday's Powerball.
![Mega Millions jackpot now $865M; Powerball up to $730M](https://www.wsls.com/resizer/KJMjY5HfPEaNZF9yUO6fAsxwJ60=/1600x900/smart/filters:format(jpeg):strip_exif(true):strip_icc(true):no_upscale(true):quality(65)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/gmg/5LBQ5C7SJJH2FI7BLLVEPECBP4.jpg)
Mega Millions jackpot now $865M; Powerball up to $730M
The Mega Millions top prize climbed to an estimated $865 million, the biggest jackpot in more than two years. The winning numberโs in Tuesday nightโs Mega Millions drawing were: 10-19-26-28-50 and a Mega Ball of 16. No one has won the Mega Millions jackpot since Sept. 15, allowing the prize to grow larger and larger over four months. Winners almost always opt for cash prizes, which for Mega Millions would be $638.8 million and $546 million for Powerball. Mega Millions and Powerball are both played in 45 states as well as Washington, D.C., and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
![As Mega Millions and Powerball jackpots surge, hereโs what to know if you bought a ticket](https://www.wsls.com/resizer/Ne5vU3W0MAoGa5KgYulwMIjYg1A=/1600x900/smart/filters:format(jpeg):strip_exif(true):strip_icc(true):no_upscale(true):quality(65)/d1vhqlrjc8h82r.cloudfront.net/01-15-2021/t_b7ce95d82d1a4357a3efb30efedf7949_name_image.jpg)
As Mega Millions and Powerball jackpots surge, hereโs what to know if you bought a ticket
Mega Millions is now $750 million while Powerball grew to $640 million. One local statistics professor said even though the prize pool gets bigger, your odds of winning stay the same. And then thereโs something many have thought about: What do you do if you actually win the lottery? Youโll want to keep the ticket in a secure location as you talk with legal and financial professionals to get advice. You take 6 months to plan a wedding, and you certainly should take 6 months to plan for intergenerational wealth,โ said Virginia Tech Professor of Practice in the Department of Finance, Derek Klock.
![Mega Millions $625M jackpot largest in nearly 2 years](https://www.wsls.com/resizer/jcChPBIF8V8MMajOgAsV2E7hBEo=/1280x720/smart/filters:format(jpeg):strip_exif(true):strip_icc(true):no_upscale(true):quality(65)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/gmg/HUKVZDPXH5CURFHVSGILAVGKCM.jpg)
Mega Millions $625M jackpot largest in nearly 2 years
The Mega Millions $625 million jackpot is the largest lottery prize in nearly two years. The winning numbers in Tuesday nightโs drawing of the Mega Millions game were: 12-14-26-28-33, Mega Ball: 09. Nearly all jackpot winners actually take the cash option, which would be an estimated $458.8 million for Mega Millions and $411.4 million for Powerball. They're even steeper for Mega Millions, at one in 302.5 million. Mega Millions and Powerball are both played in 45 states as well as Washington, D.C., and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
![Roanoke man wins $1 million from Virginia Lottery scratcher](https://www.wsls.com/resizer/JymTj8sBk0MBrgGcNwvN_bHBztw=/1600x900/smart/filters:format(jpeg):strip_exif(true):strip_icc(true):no_upscale(true):quality(65)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/gmg/HO77NXIQBJBIDJGUHIRQ4NS2P4.jpg)
Roanoke man wins $1 million from Virginia Lottery scratcher
ROANOKE, Va. โ โWe were high-fiving in the store,โ said Jeff Journell. โIโve always wondered what it would feel like, and it felt wonderful!โIโd imagine wonderful is an understatement when you buy a $30 lottery ticket and win the $1 million grand prize. Jeff Journell was just outside downtown Roanoke, near A-1 Food Mart on South Jefferson Street, when he stopped in and bought a Millionaire Maker ticket. Journell, whoโs retired, told Lottery officials he has no immediate plans for his winnings. For selling the winning ticket, the Roanoke store receives a $10,000 bonus from the Virginia Lottery.
![A lottery player went to 40 stores and finally scored a $5 million winning scratch-off](https://www.wsls.com/resizer/lXIYhpMqk0JGQw1K0VLxTXvqNdA=/1266x712/smart/filters:format(jpeg):strip_exif(true):strip_icc(true):no_upscale(true):quality(65)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/gmg/PYH7YUHDUZHSTE6XEIL7WYHYUI.jpg)
A lottery player went to 40 stores and finally scored a $5 million winning scratch-off
CNN After around 40 stores and four hours of searching, one North Carolina man finally struck gold. Kevin Clark, of Candler, North Carolina, played a hunch and went on a journey to find the last top prize of the $5,000,000 Mega Cash scratch-off game. "I had a real good feeling it was going to be in the western part of the state," Clark said, according to the NC Education Lottery. After taxes, Clark went home with about $2.1 million -- not bad for four hours of work. In North Carolina, the money from selling scratch-off tickets goes to fund education in the state.
![Galax man wins $1 million from Virginia Lottery scratcher](https://www.wsls.com/resizer/ywVTgGstSUYHTB-WwWI9G6RRi-E=/1280x720/smart/filters:format(jpeg):strip_exif(true):strip_icc(true):no_upscale(true):quality(65)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/gmg/U4EE3SOMVNHUHPSXRP665AIP2Q.jpg)
Galax man wins $1 million from Virginia Lottery scratcher
GALAX, Va. It was less than a one million to one odds, but that doesnt matter now to Brad Lundy. Lundy, who lives in Galax, bought a $31,000,000 Payout ticket at the Kangaroo Express on East Stuart Drive in Galax and it turned out to be a grand prize winner! The chances of winning the top prize in the $10 game are 1 in 1,101,600, according to the Lottery. Because it sold the winning ticket, Kangaroo Express receives a $10,000 bonus from the Virginia Lottery. As for what hell do with his winnings, Lundy told Lottery officials he hopes to buy a house.