McLean's Lottery Winner Just Moved Back Home

Brian McCarthy, a 2004 graduate of Langley High School, who won the Virginia Lottery worth $107 million, had recently returned home to McLean, according to a story in the Fairfax Times.

Virginia Lottery officials said McCarthy, 25, bought the ticket July 1 at a Giant in Herndon. He had stopped by to use the ATM machine, John Hagerty, a spokesman for the Virginia Lottery said.

"A little over a month ago, Brian McCarthy was working as an account manager for Pepsi and had just moved back to his parents’ house in McLean," The Times reported.

The Penn State grad started quietly telling friends a few weeks ago that he had won the lottery although the formal announcement did not come until Wednesday.

Rather than take the jackpot in 26 annual payments, McCarthy chose to take the cash option of $68.4 million. He said his splurge so far has been purchasing a custom BMW M3, and a golf trip to Ireland. McCarthy also no longer works for Pepsi, Hagerty said.

McCarthy won the mega-prize with a ticket he bought from a lottery self-service machine at Giant Food, 1228 Elden Street in Herndon. He used the Easy Pick function, allowing the computer to randomly select the numbers on the ticket. Those winning numbers were 12–17–30–35–47 and the Mega Ball number 26. 

On Wednesday, he returned to the store to receive his prize from Virginia Lottery Executive Director Paula Otto.

McCarthy initially went to the store to make an ATM withdrawal. At the time, he was an account manager with the soft drink company. Since the Virginia Lottery area was next to the ATM, he decided to play Mega Millions. He bought five tickets, the second of which was the big winner.

"This is the third-largest prize ever awarded by the Virginia Lottery and the seventh Mega Millions jackpot won in the Commonwealth," said Otto.  "In the time it took for the jackpot to grow to this level, from May 28 to the July 1 drawing, Mega Millions sales raised more than $4.4 million in profits for Virginia's public schools."

The largest jackpot winners in Virginia Lottery history were J. R. and Peggy Triplett of Winchester, who won a $239 million jackpot on February 20, 2004, with a Mega Millions ticket they bought in Stephens City.  Virginia's second-largest jackpot winner, Steve Williams of Shenandoah, won $200 million in the October 16, 2009, Mega Millions drawing.

The Virginia Lottery generates approximately $1.2 million per day for Virginia's K-12 public schools.  Operating entirely on revenue from the sale of Lottery products, rather than tax dollars, the Virginia Lottery raised more than $430.2 million for Virginia's public schools in fiscal year 2010.  That represents about 8 percent of state funding for public education in Virginia. For more information, visit www.valottery.com. Follow the Virginia Lottery on Facebook and Twitter.

During the Wednesday press conference McCarthy donated $25,000 each to two Herndon organizations, including Herndon-Reston FISH and the Herndon Optimist Club. He said, growing up in Herndon, he wanted to give back to the community.

The Giant grocery store that sold the ticket was awarded $50,000 by the Virginia Lottery. The $107 million jackpot is the third largest prize in Virginia Lottery history.