SACRAMENTO – The first time was a charm for a lucky individual from Sonoma County who had never before played the California Lottery. The Petaluma woman unexpectedly learned of her $80 million dollar prize from last week’s Wednesday drawing and is now making plans to help her kids and take her entire family on a vacation to Hawaii. While she understands the public’s curiosity about her story she is willing to share the details below, but prefers to remain anonymous.
The winner was watching her local Univision station and heard that the big SuperLOTTO Plus jackpot prize was still unclaimed. After hearing that news she went back to the Safeway grocery store where she purchased her ticket, checked her Quick Pick numbers, and learned she was the missing $80 million winner. She immediately called her husband and children to let them know.
The winner, who counts her blessings everyday, said winning the Lottery was a blessing from God. She never expected that $1 would bring her so much luck. When asked what she would do now that she was a millionaire she said, “We don’t want to get carried away, because we’re humble people, but I’m taking all my family out to dinner. I’d also like to take my family for a vacation in Hawaii.”
The ticket was purchase at the Safeway located at 373 South McDowell Boulevard in Petaluma. This retailer earned a bonus of $400,000 for selling the winning ticket.
More than 95 cents of every Lottery dollar is returned to the community in the form of contributions to education, prizes and retail commissions. The California Lottery contributes at least 34 cents of every dollar that players spend on Lottery products to public education and returns more than 50 percent of sales to players in the form of prizes. Since its inception in 1985, the Lottery has contributed more than $20 billion to California schools out of total sales of more than $55 billion. Retailers benefit too, earning $3.5 billion in compensation since 1985.