A husband who bought a lottery ticket and scratched it to discover that it had landed him a cool USD 10 million in winnings then gifted it to his wife on Valentine’s Day instead of pocketing the cash for himself.

The woman at first thought it was some sort of joke after he called her up to tell her the good news, playfully accusing him of lying.

But it was not a joke, and Maria Chicas, age not reported but who is a stay-at-home mum from the town of Haymarket in Prince William County in the US state of Virginia, has now claimed the prize money, according to the Virginia State Lottery.

The lottery said that she claimed the fourth and final top prize in the Extreme Millions Scratcher Game, and she reportedly told lottery officials while validating her winning ticket: “I thought he was joking!”

The Virginia State Lottery said: “It all happened a few days before Valentine’s Day, when her husband bought the ticket at In & Out Mart, located at 9103 Mathis Avenue in Manassas. He scratched the ticket and realized it was a winner. That’s when he called his wife.”

Her reaction was reportedly to say: “Aw, you’re lying!”

But he was not joking, and he reportedly gifted her the winning ticket on Valentine’s Day. The stunned stay-at-home mum was given the choice of taking the full USD 10 million (GBP 7.34 million) over 30 years or a “one-time cash option” of USD 6,570,302 (GBP 4.82 million) before taxes.

She reportedly chose the cash option.

The Virginia State lottery added: “The store receives a USD 50,000 [GBP 36,700] bonus from the Virginia Lottery for selling the winning ticket.”