Vandalia Kroger to donate commission made from $3M lottery ticket

Kroger will donate the lottery commission it received from the recent sale of a $3 million winning Mega Millions ticket to help feed the hungry in the Vandalia community, the company announced.

The Vandalia Kroger store sold the $3 million winning ticket earlier this month and received a $1,000 commission check, which it is donating to the Vandalia Food Pantry.

In addition, during its first quarter Kroger customers donated via the stores’ coin boxes more than $16,000 to The Foodbank of Dayton. Kroger will also present this check to Foodbank representatives.

James Riddle, 54, of Troy used his children’s birthdays in picking all five numbers, 1-4-31-36-54, in the July 26 MegaMillions drawing, according to Marie Kilbane of the Ohio Lottery.

“He’s played for 30 years,” Kilbane said. “He’s hoping to use a small part of his winnings to take a vacation.”

Riddle is married with two children and two grandchildren, according to Kilbane.

He bought the ticket at the Kroger in Vandalia and will receive $2.13 million, after deduction of federal and state income tax withholding.

Riddle missed on the Megaball number, 9. Otherwise he would have hit the $15 million jackpot.

The combination would have paid out $1 million, except Riddle also picked the Megaplier of three, tripling the winnings.