Farmville man wins $1 million in lottery

Published 6:00 am Thursday, January 28, 2021

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Brian Butler had not initially intended to buy a Virginia’s New Year’s Millionaire Raffle ticket, but he recently happened to stop by the Sheetz at 2016 S. Main St. in Farmville for gas and a drink, and that’s when he noticed the raffle tickets on sale.

“I just saw it pop up on the vending machine, so I bought one,” the Farmville man later told lottery officials.

A Virginia Lottery News release added that the ticket Butler bought — ticket No. 151989 — turned out to be one of four $1 million winning tickets announced on New Year’s Day.

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“It’s overwhelming,” he said.

He’s not the only winner. The store received $10,000 for selling the winning ticket.

The other three top prize-winning tickets in the Jan. 1 drawing were bought in Fredericksburg, Virginia Beach and Woodbridge.

Six tickets won $100,000 each. Those tickets were bought in Danville, Gloucester, North Chesterfield, Poquoson, Smithfield and Virginia Beach.

An additional 500 tickets each won $500.

Authorized by Virginia voters in a successful 1987 referendum, the Virginia Lottery generates more than $1.6 million per day for Virginia’s K-12 public schools. In the fiscal year ending June 30, 2020, lottery customers helped generate more than $595 million dollars in funding for public education.