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Berhane Meharena, of Arlington, was driving a truck in Texas when he decided to check the winning numbers in Virginia’s New Year’s Millionaire Raffle. That’s how he found out his ticket was one of five $1 million winners.
“I was by myself in the truck,” he later told Virginia Lottery officials. “I was screaming!”
He then drove all the way from Texas back to Virginia to claim his prize. Once he arrived in Virginia, he got sick and had to wait a bit more to claim his prize. When he started feeling better, he went to the Lottery office in Woodbridge to claim his prize.
“This was a lucky year!” Meharena said.
Meharena bought ticket #485284 at the Harris Teeter at 950 South George Mason Drive in Arlington.
The other four million-dollar winning tickets in Virginia’s New Year’s Millionaire Raffle were bought in Fredericksburg, Leesburg, Manassas and Stafford.
Seven tickets won $100,000 each. They were bought in Henrico, Lynchburg, Manassas, Poquoson, Suffolk, Virginia Beach and Yorktown. An additional 1,000 tickets each won $500.
Meharena said he doesn’t yet have any plans for his winnings.
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