Va. grocery store worker's lottery ticket mistake turns into $7 million grand prize

FALLS CHURCH, Va. - A Virginia grocery store employee's mistake during Powerball jackpot fever earlier this month ended up turning into a $7 million windfall.

Michael Donnelly was ringing up Powerball tickets for customers at the Harris Teeter store in Falls Church. But for one transaction, he accidentally punched the wrong button on the lottery terminal and printed a Cash4Life ticket that the customer didn't want.

Donnelly ended up buying the "mistake" ticket for the January 7th drawing and it turned out to be winning ticket for the game's top prize. According to Virginia Lottery, the odds of winning the top prize for Cash4Life are 1 in 21.8 million.

The Woodbridge man chose the one-time lump sum of $7 million over the option of receiving $1,000 per day for the rest of his life.

After he called his wife about the big jackpot win, she told her husband, "If that's true, you have to come home because I'm about to have a heart attack!"

Harris-Teeter received a $50,000 bonus from Virginia Lottery for selling the winning ticket.

"It still hasn't hit me yet," Donnelly said.