Retired real estate investor Ali Ghaemi isn’t likely to forget this innocent-looking four-digit combination of 0-2-6-5.

To start with, it’s his birthday month and year.

And secondly, it’s the number combination he used to win a total of $1 million in one drawing of the Virginia Lottery’s Pick 4 lottery game.

The Alexandria man had a plan. He bought 200 plays in the September 6 Pick 4 drawing.

Each play cost $1 and contained the same four digits he chose.

When his four numbers were drawn that Tuesday night, every single one of his plays won the game’s $5,000 top grand prize.

That gave him an amazing total of $1 million.

But in spite of the odds-beating multiple wins, the retired investor took it all in his stride.

“I must tell you, I really haven’t hit the ceiling,” he told Virginia Lottery officials. “I can’t tell you that I jumped up.”

When Ali was asked why he bought so many tickets for a single drawing, he said he was preparing to leave town.

So he decided to buy up big and see what would happen!

ABOUT PICK 4

Pick 4 drawings are held daily at 1:59 p.m. and 11 p.m. The chances of matching all four numbers in exact order are 1 in 10,000.

All Virginia Lottery profits go to K-12 education in Virginia. All the winning tickets in this game were bought in Fairfax County, which received nearly $48.7 million in lottery funds for K-12 education last fiscal year.

For general information on Pick 4, or to play other games online, visit the Virginia Lottery’s website or download the official app there.