Virginia man who won $230,000 Cash 5 lottery prize honors agreement with brother to split winnings

• By David Assely
• 2024-01-12

Two brothers have an agreement when it comes to winning the lottery, and one of them pulled through when he won a $230,000 Cash 5 prize.

It was a sweet moment when two brothers showed up to claim a $230,000 Cash 5 prize at the Virginia Lottery, honoring a pact they made about what happens when one of them wins big.

Tim and Steve Cornwell have an agreement that they would share a big lottery prize should one of them win.

"We always say that if one of us wins, we'll split it," Tim told the Lottery.

Staying true to the promise was made possible when Tim bought a Cash 5 ticket with EZ Match at Virginia Hillbilly Market on Stoney Ridge Road in Cedar Bluff.

Using numbers containing birthdays and important family dates, Tim's ticket matched all five winning numbers in the Dec. 18, 2023 drawing: 3, 8, 10, 12, and 16.

"I couldn't wait for my brother to wake up so I could tell him!" Tim recalled.

It was no question — the Cedar Bluff brothers decided to split the $230,000 prize equally.

After Tim's ticket hit the jackpot, the game's top prize returned to the starting jackpot of $200,000 for the next night's draw. That jackpot has been continuing to climb since then, with it currently standing at $423,000 for the next drawing on Fri., Jan. 5.

Cash 5 drawings take place every day at 11:00 pm Eastern Time. The odds of matching all five numbers to win the game's rolling jackpot are 1 in 1,221,759.