Merry Thomas, from Virginia is the latest winner of a $1,000,000 prize with the Virginia Lottery after doing the good deed of showing her friend Julie how to play scratch-off lottery tickets. Thomas went to the Giant Food store, with her friend Julie which is located on Town and Country Road in Fredericksburg, where she explained how the self-serve machine operated in scanning the tickets. Julie won $12, whilst Merry won a $1 million prize, stating "I've been freaking out since then!". She's been very lucky on this occasion, as she's landed the top prize available in the 20X the Money lottery game. Thomas has opted for the lump-sum option over the gradual instalments which changes her overall prize amount to $620,915 before taxes. She doesn't have any plans for the future as of yet, however she feels very fortunate and is in disbelief at the amazing situation she's found herself in, beating the odds which were 1 in 1,162,800 to win the top prize. The retailer, Stafford Giant will also receive $10,000 as a financial incentive for selling the winning ticket from the Virginia Lottery.