Topics: California, Lottery, Money, Community, News
A homeless man hit the jackpot in more ways than one when he won the lottery last week.
The man in question purchased a California Lottery scratch card from a store called Sandy’s Deli-Liquor in San Luis Obispo and wasted no time to see if he had won any cash.
Upon scratching off his lotto ticket — a Red 777 Scratcher — he found that he'd won an impressive amount. Initially ,the homeless guy thought he'd bagged $100,000, but Wilson Samaan, the owner of the store, went on to tell him it was actually $1,000,000.
Apparently, the man who'd won the cash was a loyal customer of Wilson's, and had frequented his store for over a decade. Because of his rapport with him, Wilson would sometimes get him to watch the front of the store if he needed to do work in the back.
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Recalling the moment the guy, whose name hasn't been released, scratched the card, Wilson shared with KSBY: "He came to the store, he scratched it and is like, 'Oh, my God. Is that real? Wilson, can you come and take a look?'
"I'm like, 'Let me see,' so I grabbed the ticket out of his hand went to the machine over there. He's like, 'Man, I'm not homeless anymore!' I'm like, 'Man, you hit the jackpot.' He's like, '$100,000' and I'm like, 'No, bro. Thats $1 million. Congrats brother,' so, and we gave each other a high five."
But Wilson did more than confirm his winning ticket; he proceeded to drive his customer to the California Lottery's offices in Fresno in the days that followed so that he didn't have to send his million dollar-winning ticket in the mail.
"I drove him to Fresno I think the next day, or Wednesday, because he's like, 'Do I want to send it in the mail?' And I told him, 'That's a million-dollar ticket. No, I will drive you,'" Wilson said.
The guy dubbed the money as 'life-changing' and hopes to make a down payment on a house, get a car, and then invest or save the rest.
It may be a while before the man gets his money though, as explained by Carolyn Becker, a spokesperson for the CA State Lottery.
"With a million-dollar ticket like this, the person who comes forward can expect a very thorough vetting process," she said. "As you can imagine, we give away a lot of prize money at the CA lottery, and we are happy to do it, but we want to make sure we are giving it to the right person."
This process can take a long as a few weeks or a few months and involves an interview with the winner, checking to see if the person owes the state any money, and other factors.
