Lottery player thought top prize win was ‘cruel’ joke — but it wasn’t. ‘So unreal’

Jennifer Czuchaj was skeptical when she saw a top prize win on her Virginia lottery ticket, suspecting a mean prank.

But it wasn’t a prank.

Czuchaj really won a $100,000 prize on the Willy Wonka Golden Ticket game, but the day she scratched her ticket was April 1, according to a news release from the Virginia Lottery.

“I was thinking this was all some cruel April Fools’ joke,” she told lottery officials.

The Chesapeake woman visited a 7-Eleven to buy an energy drink when she decided to purchase a lottery ticket as well. It ended up landing her the first top prize in the scratch-off game, which debuted in February.

She defied the slim odds of 1-in-1,305,600 to hit her windfall, according to the Virginia Lottery. One more top prize remains in the game as of April 26, as well as an assortment of smaller wins.

“It feels amazing and so unreal,” Czuchaj told lottery officials.

Chesapeake is in southeast Virginia near the coast, along the border of North Carolina.

This story was originally published April 26, 2024 at 1:14 PM with the headline "Lottery player thought top prize win was ‘cruel’ joke — but it wasn’t. ‘So unreal’."