Fluvanna woman wins lottery

A Palmyra woman has won more than $800,000 in a Virginia Lottery scratch-off game and plans to use the money to fund her grandchildren’s education, according to lottery officials.

Barbara Swanson bought the ticket at Jax, a convenience store at 28925 N. James Madison Highway in Arvonia. The store gets a $10,000 bonus for selling the winning ticket.

“I got so excited I didn’t know what to do,” Swanson told lottery officials.

Swanson played the Virginia Lottery’s “Win for Life” scratch-off ticket game that promised $1,000 a week for life or a one-time cash payout of $830,000. She chose the cash.

The scratch-off game is one of more than 50 in play by the lottery. The top prize of $1,000 per week for life is the same as that offered by the Virginia Lottery’s Win For Life computerized game, officials said. There are four more top-prize-winning tickets yet to be claimed in the game.

According to officials, nearly 95 cents of each dollar played in the lottery helps pay for education for kindergarten through high school, prizes and retailer commissions. Since 1999 the lottery has contributed nearly $3.9 billion to public schools. The latest annual profits of $455 million currently represent about 6 percent of state funding for public education in Virginia.