程阳：佛吉尼亚人三次中Cash5大奖

Virginia Beach man wins $100,000 lottery - for the third time

Posted to: Lottery News Virginia Beach

By Jim Washington

The Virginian-Pilot

© August 26, 2008

VIRGINIA BEACH

Luckiest. Guy. Ever.

It's not an official title, but it will do for Ralph Stephens.

The Virginia Beach man recently won the Virginia Lottery's Cash 5 drawing for the third time. Each time he matched all five numbers and walked away with the $100,000 top prize.

"It's amazing," said lottery spokesman John Hagerty. Hagerty did not know if the trifecta was unprecedented in Virginia Lottery history.

Stephens, who declined to be interviewed, picked up his first jackpot in 1997. Then, in April 2007, he again matched all five numbers and won another $100,000. And now, 16 months later, he's done it again.

Other contenders for luckiest people on Earth include a Chesapeake man who played the same numbers on 20 Cash 5 cards in 2004, raking in $1.8 million, and a Henrico County couple who won $9.7 million in 1991 and then $1,000 a week for life in 2002.