Chesapeake mail carrier wins $1,000 a week for life in lottery

Jasper Ingram of Chesapeake delivers the mail for a living in Norfolk.  This morning, Virginia Lottery officials delivered to him the first of many checks he will receive the rest of his life.

Ingram, 59, won the Virginia Lottery’s Win For Life game, which will pay him $1,000 per week for the rest of his life. It is second only to the Mega Millions game among the lottery’s biggest payouts. Ingram is the 18th person in Virginia to win the game since it debuted in February 2006. Lottery players in Kentucky and Georgia also play in the Win For Life contest.

Ingram said he has no immediate plans for how he will use the money, and he has not yet decided when he will retire from the U.S. Postal Service. He retired from the Navy in 1989 and has worked for the Postal Service for the last 18 years, walking almost 10 miles per day on a route in the Little Creek area.

Ingram said he usually spends $10 to $15 each week on lottery tickets, playing the Win For Life and Mega Millions games. He said he won $5,000 twice about five years ago and won $600 six months ago playing the lottery, but nothing compares to today’s payday.

The $1,000 per week is actually paid out quarterly by lottery officials. Those $13,000 checks every three months will be subject to 25 percent in federal taxes and 4 percent in state taxes, according to Virginia Lottery Executive Director Paula Otto, who was on hand today to present the first, pro-rated check to Ingram.

Ingram said he typically stops off each week at the 7-Eleven at South Military Highway and Campostella Road to play the same six numbers. They represent the birthdays of his wife, Thelma, his two daughters and his three grandchildren. But the week of the Feb. 20 drawing he got caught in traffic heading home from work and took a detour, he said. That’s how he ended up at the 7-Eleven at 1928 Battlefield Blvd. North, where he let the computer pick the winning numbers.

“I’ll never complain again when traffic is backed up,” Ingram said. “I feel like I’m the luckiest man in Chesapeake right now.”