Neighbors buy lottery ticket together at happy hour — and hit huge Mega Millions prize
Sitting at an afternoon happy hour, a man and woman, who have been neighbors for more than two decades, had an idea to buy a Mega Millions ticket together.
Then, they won a life-changing prize.
Thomas Bell and Lorraine Dimuccio won $3 million in the March 7 Mega Millions drawing, the Virginia Lottery said in a March 20 news release.
The duo came just short of a $233 million prize as their ticket matched the first five numbers in the drawing but missed the Mega Ball number, the lottery said.
Nonetheless, a Megaplier they purchased for $1 tripled their prize, according to the lottery.
The winning numbers in the drawing were 8, 20, 48, 58 and 60, and the Mega Ball number was 7, lottery officials said.
Bell and Dimuccio purchased their winning ticket at a 7-Eleven in Williamsburg, about a 50-mile drive southeast from Richmond, the lottery said.
A person in Washington also matched the first five numbers, but no one won the jackpot, according to the Mega Millions national website.
The estimated jackpot as of March 21 is $324 million, according to officials.
What to know about Mega Millions
To score the jackpot in the Mega Millions, a player must match all five white balls and the gold Mega Ball. The odds of scoring a jackpot prize are 1 in 302,575,350.
Tickets cost $2 and can be bought on the day of the drawing, but sales times vary by state. Officials have announced they will cost $5 starting in April.
Drawings are held Tuesdays and Fridays at 11 p.m. ET and can be streamed online.
Mega Millions is played in 45 states, Washington, D.C., and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
This story was originally published March 21, 2025 at 9:18 AM with the headline "Neighbors buy lottery ticket together at happy hour — and hit huge Mega Millions prize."
