Woman goes to store for baking soda — comes back with top lottery win. ‘Crazy!’

A Virginia woman went to the store for baking soda and came home with a big lottery win, officials said.

Melinda Jacques won a top prize worth $100,000 from the Lincoln scratcher game, the Virginia Lottery said in a July 2 news release.

“It feels crazy!” Jacques told the lottery. “It doesn’t feel real!”

She bought the winning ticket for $5 at a convenience store in Gladstone, about a 90-mile drive west from Richmond, lottery officials said.

The odds of winning the top prize in the Lincoln game are 1 in 765,000, and the odds of winning any prize are 1 in 3.9, according to the game’s webpage.

This is the third top prize claimed in the game, which started Feb. 4, lottery officials said. One top prize remains.

Natalie Demaree

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Natalie Demaree is a service journalism reporter covering Mississippi for McClatchy Media. She holds a master’s in journalism from Columbia Journalism School and a bachelor’s in journalism and political science with a specialization in African and African American Studies from the University of Arkansas.