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Winner winner: Virginia man goes out for chicken, wins $500,000

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Winner winner: Virginia man goes out for chicken, wins 0,000


Winner, winner, chicken dinner – literally.

A Virginia man recently went to the grocery store to pick up some chicken – and came back half a million dollars richer.

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Russell Gomes, of South Boston, Virginia, went to the Food Lion grocery store recently to buy chicken, he told the Virginia Lottery’s website. 

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South Boston is located in southern Virginia, about 20 miles north of the North Carolina border. 

While he was shopping, he decided to buy a scratch-off ticket – specifically, the Virginia Lottery’s “Magnificent 7s” scratcher.

A trip to the grocery store paid off big time for Russell Gomes of South Boston, Virginina – he won $500,000 in a scratch-off game.  (iStock / iStock)

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Gomes, a tractor-trailer driver, went to scratch off his ticket in the store’s parking lot – and got the surprise of a lifetime.

 “I really didn’t believe it!” he told Lottery officials when he redeemed his winning ticket on May 3. “It feels great!

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Gomes told the Virginia Lottery that he plans on using his winnings to pay off a vacation that he had already scheduled. 

Magnificent 7s, the game Gomes played, has prizes ranging from $20 to $500,000, said the Virginia Lottery.

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Gomes told the Virginia Lottery that he will be using his winnings to go on vacation.  (iStock / iStock)

There are two additional $500,000 top prizes that have not been claimed, they said.

The Virginia Lottery was established in 1987, after Virginians voted in favor of creating a state-operated lottery. 

The first tickets were sold the following year, said the Virginia Lottery’s website.

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Since 1999, the Virginia Lottery’s profits have supported K-12 public education in the commonwealth, said its website.

In 2023, this amounted to more than $867 million that went to public education in the state. 

The Virginia Lottery’s profits support schools in the commonwealth.  ( Paul Weaver/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images / Getty Images)

This was about 10% of the commonwealth’s budget for K-12 schools, said the Virginia Lottery’s website. 

These funds are distributed throughout Virginia’s counties. 

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Gomes lives in Halifax County, noted the Virginia Lottery’s website, which received “more than $4.4 million in Lottery funds for K-12 education last fiscal year.”

During the 2023 fiscal year, the Virginia Lottery had sales of $4.6 billion. 

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Of those sales, more than $3.5 billion was distributed to lottery winners and the retailers who sold the winning tickets, said the lottery’s website.   

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#17 Irish Fall at #4 Virginia, 4-1

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#17 Irish Fall at #4 Virginia, 4-1


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#17 Notre Dame (19-5, 8-3) – 1 | #4 Virginia (18-3, 10-1) – 4

DOUBLES – 3, 2
1. Dominko/Gregg (ND) vs. #5 Dahlberg/Dietrich (UVA), 2-4, 4-4, 5-4, 6-5, unfinished
2. Rice/Brockett (UVA) def. #47 Llorens Saracho/Nad (ND), 7-5
3. Santamarta/Kim (UVA) def. Lee/Patrick (ND), 6-0 

SINGLES – 2, 4, 6
1. #2 Dylan Dietrich (UVA) def. #15 Sebastian Dominko (ND), 6-2, 2-6, 6-2
2. #14 Keegan Rice (UVA) def. #72 Perry Gregg (ND), 6-3, 6-3
3. #40 Andres Santamarta Roig (UVA) vs. Giuseppe Cerasuolo (ND), 6-3, 6-5, unfinished
4. Peter Nad (ND) def. #102 Jangjun Kim (UVA), 1-6, 6-1, 6-3
5. Kyran Magimay (ND) vs. Stiles Brockett (UVA), 6-1, 5-7, 1-1, unfinished
6. Douglas Yaffa (UVA) def. Luis Llorens Saracho (ND), 6-3, 0-6, 6-1

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Virginia sees 33,000 ACA enrollment drop since subsidies expired, more likely on the way

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Virginia sees 33,000 ACA enrollment drop since subsidies expired, more likely on the way


As Virginians, and Americans nationwide, face premium spikes in the Affordable Care Act marketplace after Congress failed to renew subsidies, many are weighing the cost of coverage against paying rent or mortgages, making car payments or paying for public transit, and buying groceries.



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The Virginia International Tattoo: Where 250 Years of Freedom Takes the Stage  – VisitNorfolk

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The Virginia International Tattoo: Where 250 Years of Freedom Takes the Stage  – VisitNorfolk


If you’re uncertain what the words “Tattoo” and “Hullabaloo” mean in the context of Norfolk, Virginia’s largest annual event, Scott Jackson is happy to explain. 

“About 15 years ago, I took a trip to Edinburgh, Scotland, to see the Edinburgh tattoo, which is the biggest tattoo in the world and the most famous,” says Jackson, Producer/Director of the military-themed spectacle known as the Virginia International Tattoo. “My hotel was at the bottom of a road called the Royal Mile… and when you walk up this mile on the night of a tattoo performance, it’s totally vibrant. It’s so exciting. There’s music on every corner. There’s street performers. There’s food, there’s beer. When I got to the castle, I already felt great. I was already in a great mood.” 

The annual Virginia International Tattoo runs April 16–19, 2026, and this year it carries the theme of America’s 250th anniversary. The timing is not lost on Jackson, a student of military history who discovered, in preparing for this year, that George Washington himself called for the first tattoo in American history. 

“At that time, a tattoo was a small military ceremony,” Jackson explains. “It was basically a time each night when soldiers were called back to a base, and there was a roll call, and a military ceremony, sometimes called a beating retreat.”  

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From that origin story, Jackson has built a show that threads 1776 through every act. The Old Guard Fife and Drum Corps, performing in 1776 uniforms, will demonstrate how fifes, drums and bugles once served as battlefield communication, the original radio operators of the Continental Army. The French Navy Band and a Royal Air Force rifle display team called the King’s Color Squadron represent the allies who stood with the colonies.  

“There’s a great line from the musical Hamilton,” Jackson says, “‘I want to be in the room where it happened.’ Well, these were the countries that were in the room where it happened.” 

South Korea’s Army Band provides a “a giant umbrella of Korean culture,” with traditional dance and costumes, a taekwondo display team, and two K-pop stars currently serving their mandatory military service.  

“In the U.S. in the ’50s, Elvis Presley was drafted into the Army, who felt like it was a distraction, so they actually staged him in Germany. He basically had a desk job,” Jackson says. “Well, the South Koreans said, ‘Oh, you’re a K-pop star, we’re drafting you. We’re sending you to Virginia Tattoo to represent.’” 

More than 800 civilian and military performers from six nations will fill Scope’s arena floor. For those making the drive from the Richmond region and beyond, the experience begins well before curtain. According to Jackson, that is precisely what you don’t want to miss.  

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The festivities aren’t just inside the arena, Jackson notes. For several hours before each performance, the exterior Scope Plaza comes alive with brass quintets, traditional Celtic dancers, beer tastings, festival food and a market of makers selling Tattoo-related merchandise. This is the Hullabaloo, a free pre-show open to the public and Jackson’s answer to Edinburgh’s Royal Mile.  

“When you can, come early and relax, because then when the show starts, you’re already in a great place,” he says. “If you haven’t gone yet, this is the year to go.”  

Tickets are available at vafest.org or by calling (757) 282-2822. Show times are Thursday–Saturday at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday at 2:30 p.m. 



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