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2008 4th Quarter Press Releases: Article

12.16.2008
Wife’s Lottery Whim Pays Off for Fontana Man

SACRAMENTO – A lucky Fontana man who played MEGA Millions® on his wife’s suggestion is $256,907 richer. Tim Leyba matched five numbers, missing only the Mega number in last Friday’s draw.

Leyba – a regular California Lottery player who had not played in several weeks – took his wife’s advice and wagered $2 on Friday night’s MEGA Millions draw. The next day, he checked the results and thought he had matched four of the winning numbers. “I thought, ‘Great!’ I knew it was worth a few thousand dollars,” he said.

Later, he discovered he was a bigger winner than he had originally thought, as his ticket was worth more than a quarter of a million dollars. “I was thinking ‘Oh my God!’ I didn’t expect to see so many digits!” Leyba said.

Leyba purchased the ticket at Village Shell, which is located at 7330 Cherry Avenue in Fontana. A ticket purchased in Ohio took home the grand prize of $207 million. For the winning numbers, please visit www.calottery.com.

Players have another shot at MEGA Millions tonight. The jackpot is $12 million and tickets cost $1.

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 nearly $21 billion to California schools out of total sales of more than $56 billion. Retailers benefit too, earning $3.6 billion in compensation since 1985.


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Last updated:  August 15, 2009 11:07:44 PM  | ©2009 California State Lottery