Manoj Chhetry, feeling a little bored, decided to pass the time by trying his luck with the Merry Money Mania game on the Virginia Lottery website.
By the time he finished, he was staring at a jackpot worth $4,303,499.
Merry Christmas, indeed.
“I didn’t know what happened!” Chhetry told Lottery officials, describing the surreal moment.
Thinking it was too good to be true, he called his wife over to double-check the screen. Sure enough, the numbers didn’t lie—he was the newest millionaire in town.
Merry Money Mania, one of the many online instant games available through the Virginia Lottery app and website, features a jackpot that grows as more people play.
The odds of winning any prize in the game are 1 in 3.74, but hitting the jackpot is an entirely different story—one that Chhetry now gets to tell for the rest of his life.
Chhetry didn’t share immediate plans for his massive windfall, but one thing is certain: his boredom won’t be an issue for a while.
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