Virginia man cleans out wallet, finds lottery ticket worth $1 million

When Robert Manning started cleaning out his wallet because it was getting too fat, he had no idea he would find $1 million stuffed inside. Or at least a Virginia Lottery ticket guaranteeing him that fortune.

The 51-year-old from Springfield, Va., had been sitting on the winning ticket for 11 days. It was among a dozen tickets he packed in his wallet after buying them at a 7-Eleven near his home for the March 5 drawing.

“It feels crazy,� Manning told lottery officials while turning in the ticket. “It feels like there’s nine million things going through my mind.�

Taking weeks to check up on a lottery ticket left on a kitchen counter or in a wallet is “not that uncommon,� said John Hagerty, a spokesman for the Virginia Lottery. Manning faced a 180-day deadline to turn in the winning ticket.

“We’ve seen people come in literally on the last day who didn’t realize it earlier,� Hagerty told The Times. “Tickets do expire, and sometimes there are very large ones that do expire.�

Lottery officials described Manning as a U.S. government employee and said that he had one child in college and another heading to college next year.

Manning would have won $40 million had he successfully guessed the Powerball number of “19� on top of the five regular numbers he did get right.

About $400 million is up for grabs Tuesday night in the Mega Millions lottery. It’s the third-largest jackpot in the game’s history and among the top 10 largest in the U.S. when combining Mega Millions and Powerball games.

The only two larger jackpots were a $648-million prize in December and a $656-million pot in March 2012, according to the Mega Millions website.

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