Annandale Resident Nearly Wins $145M Jackpot, Settles For $1M Virginia Lottery Prize

ANNANDALE, VA — An Annandale resident won $1 million in the Virginia Lottery’s Mega Millions after deciding to play the game on a whim.

Man Nguyen happened to notice the Virginia Lottery app on his device and decided to buy a few tickets online, according to the Virginia Lottery.

One of the tickets he bought matched the first five numbers in the Feb. 28 drawing, meaning he won the $1 million prize. The winning numbers in that drawing were 14-16-40-52-59, and the Mega Ball number was 13.

Nguyen just missed out on picking the correct Mega Ball number. If he had matched that final number, he would have won a jackpot estimated at $145 million. He used Easy Pick and allowed the computer to select his numbers at random, according to the Virginia Lottery.

“My wife’s birthday is coming up, and I’m thinking of buying her a new car,” Nguyen told Virginia Lottery officials.

Mega Millions drawings are held Tuesday and Friday nights at 11 p.m. The odds of matching the first five numbers in Mega Millions are 1 in 12,607,306. The odds of matching all six numbers to win the jackpot are 1 in 302,575,350.

All Virginia Lottery profits go to K-12 education in Virginia. Nguyen lives in Fairfax County, which received nearly $48.7 million in lottery funds for K-12 education last fiscal year.