Cash 5 winner Mary Elliot has some advice to anyone playing the lottery. PHOTOS: Virgina Lottery

When Buckingham County resident Mary Elliot discovered she had matched all five winning numbers in the Virginia Lottery, she had a brief moment of panic. She had thrown the ticket away!

So she went digging through the trash and found it. But now there was a new problem….

The Cash 5 with EZ Match game ticket had coffee stains on it, and the barcode wouldn’t scan when she tried to confirm her win.

How to play the Cash 5 game from the Virginia Lottery. VIDEO: Virginia Lottery

But this story has a happy ending.

Ms. Elliott took the ticket to the Virginia Lottery’s Prize Zone West in Henrico, where Lottery officials were able to confirm the win and award her the $110,000 prize!

“When I saw I’d won, I couldn’t stop shaking to save my life!” she said.

Mary won the top prize in the February 24 drawing with a ticket she bought at the Food Lion in Dillwyn. The winning numbers were 6-13-18-21-25.

Like many players she selected the numbers on her ticket using important birthdays.

ABOUT: Cash 5 with EZ Match features a rolling jackpot, starting at a minimum of $100,000. If the five winning numbers are not matched, the jackpot increases for the next drawing. The odds of matching all five numbers to win the jackpot are 1 in 749,398. For more information on how to play Cash 5 with EZ Match, visit valottery.com/Cash5.