Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, February 17, 1992 TAG: 9202170131
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: STEVE STONE
DATELINE: CHESAPEAKE LENGTH: Medium
CHESAPEAKE TICKET THE BIG WINNER
The winning numbers were low but the Lotto payoff will be huge - more than $27 million. And there's only one ticket that has all the right numbers: 08-11-13-15-19-20.If only one person holds that ticket, he or she will become the Virginia lottery's first instant millionaire. Even after the tax man takes his slice of the prize, the payoff will be an estimated $1,026,000 annually for 20 years, the Lottery Department said Sunday.
There was no word Sunday evening on who holds the ticket. But it was sold about 3 p.m. Friday at a Farm Fresh grocery store in Chesapeake.
Store officials refused comment Sunday, although a banner in the window proclaimed, "We sold a million dollar winner."
Saturday night's drawing capped three days of furious betting that saw players put down $14,873,773 - an increase of $4.5 million over the previous sales record for a drawing. Records for daily sales were set each day, with Saturday's sales hitting $7.7 million as tickets sold at a peak rate of 9,300 a minute.
There were persistent rumors, some picked up by the news media, that someone had purchased every possible combination of numbers. But that turned out to be untrue. Although most of the possible combinations were covered, about 4 percent were not, said Paula Otto, a Lottery Department spokeswoman.
There were some huge purchases, however, with players providing thousands of pre-selected play slips to groups of Lotto retailers.
The largest confirmed buy was a $1.5 million purchase by unknown individuals using the Pennsylvania-based Uni-Mart store chain. A Virginia Beach businessman bought nearly a quarter-million dollars worth of tickets, and an unknown buyer on the Peninsula picked up $50,000 worth.
Lottery officials will be curious to know whether the prize has been won by an average player or someone involved in one of the mass-ticket purchasing schemes - which are not illegal.
"We'll ask our usual questions," said Lottery Director Ken Thorson. "Whoever comes forward is going to have to reveal their name and hometown." And if they do represent a syndicate, they will still have to face the tax man. "That one person would be obligated for the income tax on the entire payment."
There is no evidence of any shenanigans, however. "Every time we have anything unusual, I have asked our security folks to check into it if they can. They did. They found nothing."