Retired Army sergeant Christopher Leydic won nearly $1 million playing the Virginia Lottery’s Cash 5 game. (Virginia Lottery via X)
(Tribune News Service) — A retired Army sergeant learned someone hit the jackpot — then he realized it was him.
“It was unbelievable,” veteran Christopher Leydic told the Virginia Lottery. “I thought, ‘Is this real?’ ”
The nearly $1 million win was the real deal, and it came after Leydic played the lottery online. He tried his luck on a ticket for Cash 5 with EZ Match, a drawing game with tickets that start at $1, lottery officials wrote in a news release and on their website.
Leydic noticed the jackpot prize went down, an indication that someone scored big in the Aug. 17 drawing.
Leydic saw that the jackpot for Cash 5 with EZ Match had reverted to the game’s $200,000 starting point, and thought, “Oh, somebody won it.”
What the Chester man didn’t realize was, HE was that winner!
Leydic soon learned he was the person who beat 1-in-1.2 million odds to match all the numbers picked in the drawing. He won $958,740, though lottery officials didn’t reveal the total prize amount after taxes.
Now Leydic, who served in the military for 21 years, hopes to spend his prize money on bills and put some into savings. He is from Chester, a roughly 15-mile drive south from Richmond.
It’s not the first time a lottery player didn’t realize they won at first. In North Carolina, another winner thought someone else hit the jackpot, but it was actually him, McClatchy News reported in 2022.
If you or a loved one shows signs of gambling addiction, you can seek help by calling the national gambling hotline at 1-800-522-4700 or visiting the National Council on Problem Gambling website.
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