Man celebrating $20,000 Virginia Lottery win was off by tens of thousands of dollars

Robert Kennelly can’t be blamed for getting flustered when he won big in the Virginia Lottery — but he far underestimated his win in the heat of the moment.

Kennelly bought his $5 ticket at the 7 Express Mini Mart in his hometown of Front Royal, Virginia, and discovered the scratch-off was a winner while sitting outside the store in his car, state officials said in a news release.

“You just sold me a $20,000 ticket!” he said, rushing back into the store.

But he had read the ticket incorrectly — and not in a bad way.

“The ticket he had just bought wasn’t worth $20,000. It was worth $200,000!” state officials noted.

It was Kennelly who eventually discovered the mistake after realizing it had “an awful lot of zeros.”

“It’s exciting, to say the least!” he told Virginia Lottery officials.

Kennelly’s win is a top prize in the Monopoly Fortunes game, which means he beat odds of 1 in 2,040,000. (Tthree top prizes were offered and two remain.)

The man now appears to be taking a calmer approach on how to spend it.

Kennelly, who works as an excavator, told lottery officials “he has no immediate plans for his winnings.”

This story was originally published March 11, 2022 at 9:20 AM with the headline "Man celebrating $20,000 Virginia Lottery win was off by tens of thousands of dollars."