One recent customer of the Express Food Mart in Annandale is now a millionaire — at least before taxes kick in.
A lottery ticket sold by the convenience store at 4713 Backlick Road resulted in a $1 million prize for the not-yet-identified buyer, Virginia Lottery announced on Sunday (Dec. 14).
The ticket matched the first five numbers selected during the Powerball drawing on Saturday (Dec. 13), but it missed the Powerball number, which could’ve netted an estimated $1.1 billion jackpot.
As of press time, the $1 million ticket has not been claimed, Virginia Lottery spokesperson John Hagerty says, noting that winners have 180 days from the date of the drawing to claim their prize.
According to Hagerty, it’s not unusual for people who win large prizes “to take some time before they redeem the ticket”:
“They may be meeting with financial and/or tax professionals. There’s also the possibility that the ticket was bought by an office pool or other group of people, and they are making plans to claim the ticket (all claimants need to be present). And of course, there’s always the possibility that the holder of the ticket is simply not aware that it’s a big winner. We won’t know any of this until the winner comes in and shows us that winning ticket.”
Since Saturday, the Powerball jackpot has climbed to an estimated $1.25 billion after another drawing on Monday failed to produce an overall winner. The next drawing is scheduled for 10:59 p.m. tonight (Wednesday).
If a ticket matches all six numbers selected tonight — an occurrence with a 1 in 292,201,338 chance of happening — the buyer would be given an option to receive either the full jackpot amount in annual payments over 30 years or a one-time cash payment of approximately $572 million before taxes.
Virginia has used profits from its lottery games, including Powerball ticket sales, to fund public education since 1999. Proceeds from the state-operated Virginia Lottery, which was established by a voter referendum in 1987, initially supported capital construction projects and the state’s general fund until legislators amended the budget to dedicate all profits exclusively to K-12 public schools.
According to Virginia Lottery, it generated over $5.7 billion in sales during fiscal year 2025, which ended on June 30. More than $901 million of that went to public schools — including approximately $56 million to Fairfax County Public Schools — while $4.5 billion was awarded to players as prizes, and close to $128 million compensated retailers who sold lottery tickets.
Gambling remains a controversial topic in Virginia, as state lawmakers prepare to continue debates over a possible Fairfax County casino and whether to allow online gambling in 2026. The 2026 General Assembly session, set to convene on Jan. 14, will also bring a bill from Del. Paul Krizek (D-16) to establish a statewide gaming commission that would regulate all forms of gambling.
Virginia has a helpline for anyone struggling with problem gambling available 24/7 at 888-532-3500.
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