SACRAMENTO – Jeanette Lombardi, 82, visited Lottery offices with her husband of 60 years to claim their $211,387. The two have played the California Lottery as long as they can remember.
Lombardi told Lottery officials that most of the money would help to make their life more comfortable that most of it would go to family, including her son and two grandsons who have recently returned from a tour of duty overseas.
“My husband threatened not to play [the Lottery] anymore,” said Lombardi, “but I told him ‘since you’ve been playing this long, you might as well keep going.’” The two have lived and played the California Lottery as long as they can remember.
Her winning ticket was purchased for the February 24 draw at the Chevron located at 1790 Lombard Street in San Francisco. The winning numbers are 1, 27, 28, 35, 40 and the Mega number 6 and the last remaining ticket was purchased at Avenue Liquor, 878 Orange Avenue, Coronado
The California Lottery wants to remind winners to sign the back of their tickets, keep tickets in a safe place and contact Lottery officials or visit your local Lottery District Office (www.calottery.com/AboutUs/Locations) as soon as possible. Tickets worth $600 or more cannot be claimed at the retailer. Players must submit their ticket and a claim form either by mail to headquarters or in person at any Lottery District Office. Prizes will be mailed within four to six weeks and winners have 180 days from the date of the draw to claim prizes.
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.