Manassas man claims $250,000 Virginia Lottery prize nearly five months after the drawing

For nearly five months, Scott Murillo had a Virginia Lottery ticket worth $250,000 in his possession, and he didn’t even know it.

The Manassas man bought a ticket for the October 8, 2013, Mega Millions drawing and forgot about it. Then in late February, he was cleaning out some papers, and he found the ticket. So he checked it and discovered he’d matched the first five numbers.

“It’s something I never thought I’d get,” he said as he claimed his prize.

He bought the winning ticket at Exxon at the Glen, 4255 Seeton Square in Woodbridge.  He selected his numbers using family birthdays.  The winning numbers for that drawing were 6-15-19-23-40 and Mega Ball 5.

Murilllo, who works as a carpenter, said he hopes to use his winnings to buy a house.

A few weeks after the drawing in which Murillo won this prize, the Mega Millions game underwent some changes. The prize for matching the first five numbers in Mega Millions is now $1 million, and the odds of hitting are steeper. Since his winning ticket was for the Oct. 8 drawing, before the changes, he received the $250,000 prize.

Mega Millions drawings are held Tuesday and Friday nights at 11 p.m. Drawings are broadcast on TV stations across Virginia and streamed live at http://www.valottery.com and on the Lottery’s Facebook page.

When it comes to education, the Virginia Lottery generates more than $1.3 million per day for Virginia’s K-12 public schools, according to the news release.

Operating entirely on revenue from the sale of Lottery products, the Virginia Lottery generated more than $486.5 million for Virginia’s public schools in Fiscal Year 2013. For more info, visit our website, like us on Facebook, follow us on Twitter and check us out on YouTube. Please play responsibly.