VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. — The thirst was real for Stephanie Blanco, and because of it, she won $500,000.
Blanco, who lives in Virginia Beach, wrapped up a visit to the beach, itself. She cleaned out her car. All she wanted was a cold energy drink. Blanco made a stop at the 7-Eleven at 1040 Lynnhaven Parkway. (It's about four minutes down the road from Lynnhaven Mall.)
Blanco went into the store and got her drink. She also picked up a lottery scratcher for the 100X the Money game. She gave it a scratch and found that she'd won half a million dollars.
The Virginia Lottery said prizes for that particular game range from $30 all the way up to its top prize of $7 million. Blanco's prize is the second prize (not too bad).
There's a $7 million prize that still hadn't been claimed as of August 17. The odds of winning that top prize are 1 in 2,611,200.
Blanco said she's planning to use her winnings to buy a house and to take care of family members.
The Virginia Lottery said it generates more than $1.7 million a day for the state's K-12 public schools.
Voters approved the start of the lottery through a referendum in 1987.
