The saying goes, “one man’s trash is another man’s treasure.”
And in the case of one Virginia woman, her trash included a life changing treasure: a winning lottery ticket worth $110,000.
Mary Elliot, of Buckingham County, panicked when she realized she won the top prize in the Feb. 24. drawing of the Cash 5 with EZ Match game, sending her digging through her trash.
“When I saw I’d won, I couldn’t stop shaking to save my life!” she said in a Virginia Lottery statement posted Tuesday.
She had purchased her ticket at a Food Lion grocery store in Dillwyn, picking the numbers based on birthdays that were important to her.
Thankfully, she found the receipt but it was covered in coffee stains and the barcode wouldn’t scan when she tried to confirm her win.
Elliot took the ticket to the Virginia Lottery’s Prize Zone West in Henrico where her victory was confirmed and she took home her jackpot.
Elliot beat tough odds in getting the prize — a 1 in 749,398 chance in matching all five numbers, according to the Virginia Lottery.
