Virginia woman wins $50,000 lottery with her first ever ticket purchase

A Virginia woman won a $50,000 lottery jackpot after purchasing her first ever ticket.

Katelyn Berland, from Yorktown, Virginia, was running errands in mid-April to get her mother lottery tickets when she decided to take a chance herself, according to WVEC.

But the ticket purchase paid off for Berland. She was a winner for the April 14th day drawing of the Pick 5 game, per the report.

The Pick 5 tickets are sold for either $0.50 or $1.00, and players can choose to either select "any order," "exact order," or a combination of the two, according to the Virginia Lottery's website.

Pick 5 offers players two chances to win each day. You could win up to $50,000 playing the base game! Plus, the FIREBALL add-on gives players the chance to create additional number combinations for another chance to win!

You can play Pick 5 with FIREBALL in the Lottery app, at valottery.com or at a Lottery retailer.
Pick 5 drawings are in the afternoon and evening, which means two chances each day to win.

Choose your play amount and play type to get started.

Berland chose the number combination, 2-9-4-2-3, and it was the exact order needed to bring home the top prize of $50,000. The New York Post reported that the odds of anyone hitting the exact right combination were 1 in 100,000.

After she won, Berland said she planned to use some of the money to help pay for her sister's college tuition.

The Virginia Lottery was established in 1987, when Virginians voted in favor of instituting a state-operated lottery, according to reports. The first tickets were sold in 1988, per the lottery's website.

In 1999, the Virginia Lottery profits started supporting K-12 public education in the commonwealth, per the Post.

During the 2023 fiscal year, the Virginia Lottery has reeled in $4.6 billion, according to Fox News Digital.

The lottery's website stated that of the money brought in, approximately $3.5 billion was distributed to lottery winners and the retailers who sold the winning tickets.

The website also states: "For over 30 years, the Virginia Lottery has been building an amazing organization committed to growing and giving back, and having fun while doing it too. Operating entirely on revenue from game sales, the Virginia Lottery generates approximately $2.3 million per day for Virginia’s K-12 public schools."

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