Lottery player was happy to win $800. Then he realized his prize was worth much more

Miguel Garcia scratched his Virginia lottery ticket and thought he won $800.

He was happy with that, he told the Virginia Lottery officials.

But when officials took a look at his ticket, they told Garcia his actual prize was worth $100,000, according to an April 22 news release from the Virginia Lottery.

He beat the 1-in-1,224,000 odds of winning one of the six top prizes of $100,000 in the Ca$h Corners Crossword, according to lottery officials. He bought his ticket at a Harris Teeter grocery store in Falls Church.

“I like this game because it’s challenging and takes longer to play,” Garcia told lottery officials when he went to claim his prize.

He landed the second top prize in the scratch-off game that debuted in December, leaving four top prizes, in addition to an array of smaller amounts.

Falls Church is part of the western Washington, D.C. metropolitan area.

This story was originally published April 23, 2024 at 4:44 PM with the headline "Lottery player was happy to win $800. Then he realized his prize was worth much more."