Capitals’ PR guy buys winning lottery ticket at Harris Teeter at Barcroft Plaza

Kocharov [Virginia Lottery]

Sergey Kocharov, the vice president of communications for the Washington Capitals, bought a $1 million winning lottery ticket at the Harris Teeter in Barcroft Plaza.

Kocharov, a resident of Annandale, told lottery officials it was an impulse buy. He dropped by the store at 6351 Columbia Pike to pick up some groceries on July 27, and “I saw the Powerball sign and said, I may as well try it.”

He bought five tickets using Easy Pick, which lets the computer randomly select his numbers. When the winning numbers were drawn, Kocharov’s ticket matched the first five numbers to win the $1 million prize.

“I was surprised,” he said. “I always hear about jackpot wins. It feels great!”

The winning numbers were 1-19-31-48-61, and the Powerball number was 6. His ticket was the only one in Virginia to match the first five numbers and one of just three nationwide.

It’s the second big win for Kocharov in the past 14 months: The Capitals won the Stanley Cup in June 2018, and his name is etched on the Cup.

Harris Teeter receives a $10,000 bonus from the Virginia Lottery for selling the winning ticket.

In 2016, an employee at that store won $7 million in the Virginia Lottery’s Cash4Life game. The store donated its bonus from that sale to local schools.