They say you gotta be in it to win it, but an attorney in Arlington, Va., just took home a $1 million prize after putting in the bare minimum in the "be in it" column. A press release cited by ARLNow.com reports that Daniel Schuman never plays such games of chance, but his wife decided to kick off the new year on Jan. 1 by buying him a New Year's Millionaire Raffle from a 7-Eleven in the Ballston neighborhood. It turned out to be one of three winning tickets in the state worth a million bucks, which the couple couldn't believe when they checked their ticket.
"We saw that the number matched, and we checked again," Schuman told Virginia Lottery officials. "It was shocking. ... This isn't what we expected!" Schuman, who picked up his payout on Feb. 20, says he doesn't know what he'll do with the winnings yet. The 7-Eleven, meanwhile, got $10,000 for selling the ticket. WUSA 9 notes that Virginia had another recent holiday winner: A man who purchased a lottery ticket in Manassas on St. Valentine's Day won $10 million. (More uplifting news stories.)