Alexandria resident Ali Ghaemi won a $1 million prize in the Pick 4 Lottery game by playing the same number 200 times in one drawing.
Ghaemi, a retired real estate investor, bought 200 plays in the Sept. 6 drawing of the same four-digit combination 0-2-6-5, which is his birth month and year. Each $1 play won the game’s $5,000 top prize for total winnings of $1 million.
The chance of matching all four numbers correctly is one in 10,000.
“I must tell you, I really haven’t hit the ceiling,” he told Lottery officials. “I can’t tell you that I jumped up.”
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Ghaemi bought his tickets at the Safeway at 1688 Anderson Road in McLean. He said he was preparing to leave town and decided to splurge to see what happens.
Virginia Lottery profits go to K-12 education in the commonwealth. During fiscal year 2022, the Lottery raised more than $779 million for K-12, which comes to about 10% of Virginia’s total K-12 school budget.
