Jimmy Hunt wasn’t expecting much when he scratched a Sapphire Mine ticket from the Virginia Lottery. However, his ticket turned out to be the game’s first $500,000 top prize winner.

The Collinsville man bought his winning ticket at the Circle K at 1560 Virginia Avenue in Martinsville.

Sapphire Mine is one of the Precious Gems series of scratcher games available from the Virginia Lottery. It features prizes ranging from $10 up to $500,000. This is the first top prize claimed in this game, which means two more remain unclaimed.

The chances of winning that top prize are 1 in 816,000. The chances of winning any prize in this game are 1 in 3.83.

Mr. Hunt said he plans to do some traveling with his family.

All Virginia Lottery profits go to K-12 education in Virginia. Mr. Hunt lives in Henry County, which received more than $7.8 million in Lottery funds for K-12 education last fiscal year. In Fiscal Year 2023, the Lottery raised more than $867 million for K-12 education, making up approximately 10 percent of Virginia’s total K-12 school budget.