A Virginia woman won a $1 million jackpot from a scratch-off lottery ticket she bought on her birthday. Photo courtesy of the Virginia Lottery
March 16 (UPI) -- A Virginia woman received 1 million extra reasons to celebrate when she scored a lottery jackpot on her birthday.
Rabin Lawler of Sterling told Virginia Lottery officials she was celebrating her birthday March 5 when she decided to buy a Millionaire Matchmaker scratch-off ticket from the Harris Teeter store in Sterling.
Lawler said she initially thought she had won a $600 prize when she scratched the ticket off in the store's parking lot, but moments later she realized she had won the $1 million top prize.
"I blanked," Lawler recalled. "I looked at it and said, 'What is this?'"
Lawler decided to take her birthday winnings as a lump sum of $601,684, before taxes.