NORFOLK, Va. — A couple of Norfolk residents won big in the Virginia lottery this month.
First up was chef and caterer Lorenzo Langley who won $1 million after scratching a $31 million Payout ticket. He admitted he thought someone might have been pulling a fast one on him.
“I thought, ‘No way! This can’t be real!’” Langley recalled. "It feels amazing!"
But it was no prank. He bought the ticket at a 7-Eleven on West 21st Street and won fair and square.
In Langley's case, he had the choice of taking the full million-dollar prize in payments over 30 years or just opting for cash payout of $675,982. He took cash.
So what does he plan to do with his winnings? Langley says he wants to purchase a house.
The $31 million Payout game offers a total of $31 million in prize money from $10 to up to $1 million.
Jessica Taylor, also from Norfolk, took home a $278,172 jackpot after matching all five numbers in the Cash 5 EZ Match game.
Taylor said she couldn't believe she won.
“I had to go back and make sure I was looking at the screen right,” she later told Lottery officials. “It feels exciting and it’s a shock!”
Taylor said she wrote in numbers on her ticket using family birthdays.
She bought her winning ticket at a Rite Aid in Virginia Beach.
Taylor didn't share any immediate plans for what she plans to do with the money.
Cash 5 with EZ Match features a rolling jackpot, starting at a minimum of $100,000. If nobody matches all five winning numbers, the jackpot increases for the next drawing.
