Maryland Man Wins $1 Million Powerball in Virginia

He's one of 4 people to win the $1 million prize

After an approaching bad storm led him to stop to buy a ticket, a Powerball winner from Maryland is “glad for a million reasons.”

Larry Elpiner was on his way home after working in Virginia and decided to stop to buy a ticket because the jackpot was so high.

“I like to grab an Easy Pick ticket every now and then,” Elpiner said. “I figured if I didn’t buy my ticket right then, I probably wouldn’t want to get out of my car in a storm once I was closer to home.”

Using $10 that he won in a recent bet with his mother, Elpiner purchased the winning ticket from the 7-Eleven on North Fairfax Drive in Arlington.

Though he was up late working that night, he didn’t watch the drawing, he said. He checked on the website later and saw his ticket matched five of the winning numbers.

“I thought it was a joke,” Elpiner said.

Elpiner woke his wife about 1:30 a.m. to check the ticket.

“My wife and I have had a long-running joke where she’s always told me to bring home a winning lottery ticket,” he said. “I can now say I’ve checked something off of my to-do list!”

The jackpot for the July 27 drawing was an estimated $422 million, which no one won. Elpiner’s ticket was one of four in the U.S. to win the $1 million prize, and he was the only one in Virginia, according to the Virginia Lottery.

So what’s Elpiner going to do with all that money?

“We’ll share with family and friends, but we will also save and make it grow,” he said.

He plans to invest some for retirement and to make sure that his daughter leaves college debt-free, Elpiner said.

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