Man feeding dogs learns he won life-changing lottery cash. Their reaction was classic

A Virginia man discovered he won the lottery while feeding a pack of hounds, and their reaction was everything you’d expect from hunting dogs.

“They were looking at me like I was crazy,” Robert Lane said in a news release.

Lane, who works a plumber, won $500,000 in the Precious Gems Series, beating odds 1 in 816,000, Virginia Lottery officials said.

His four hunting dogs could claim some credit for the win, not that he intends to share. Lane was on his way home from work to feed them when he pulled into a 7-Eleven in Chesapeake for a drink. He added two $10 lottery tickets to his purchase at the last second.

“Later, while standing near his dog pens, he scratched the ticket and discovered he’d won,” lottery officials said. “There was no one around with whom to celebrate his jaw-dropping win — just his dogs.”

Lane didn’t say what he did to draw their incredulous looks.

His plan now is to use a fraction of the money to buy a new vehicle.

Compensation for the dogs was not mentioned, however.

The Precious Gems Series has prizes ranging from $10 to $500,000, and the chances of winning anything in the game are about 1 in 3.83, the lottery says. Lane was the second person to win a top prize in the game and one more remains, the state says.

This story was originally published November 27, 2023 at 11:17 AM with the headline "Man feeding dogs learns he won life-changing lottery cash. Their reaction was classic."