4 Alexandria Neighbors Split New Year's Lottery Win

ALEXANDRIA, VA—Be kind to your neighbors. You never know; they might help you win the lottery someday.

That's what happened with four Alexandria neighbors in January. Clyde Royce, Tiem Ngo, Carol Obrien and Rodney Richardson split a $100,000 prize in Virginia’s New Year’s Millionaire Raffle.

The four decided to buy eight tickets and share any winnings. Obrien's granddaughter, a student at Virginia Tech, bought the tickets at the 7 Eleven at 100 Draper Road in Blacksburg. One of their tickets won the $100,000 prize in the New Year's Day drawing.

Royce was the first one to check the tickets and called Ngo to say: "Well, we aren’t millionaires, but we did win $100,000." Nevertheless, Ngo had an ecstatic reaction.

Carol had the same kind of reaction when she got the call from her granddaughter while at the movies. "My friends thought I was having a heart attack because I went into shock!" she said.

The New Year's Millionaire Raffle had three $1 million winners with tickets bought in Arlington, Richmond and Chantilly. The other four $100,000 tickets were bought in Henrico, Winchester, Crozet and Manassas. 500 additional tickets had $500 prizes.

As for the four winners, they're confident about trying the lottery again. "I never win anything," said Obrien. "I guess I can’t say that anymore!"

Image via Virginia Lottery