The California State Lottery announced two winners of the 5/5 prize during its latest 5/5 MEGA Millions promotion. The 5/5 promotion makes additional money available when a player successfully matches all 5 numbers without matching the MEGA number. The odds of winning this prize are 1 in 3.9 million.
The two valentine winners each won nearly $694,000. One winner bought their ticket at The Liquor Store in Cerritos. A second ticket purchased at Joe’s AM/PM in Fullerton was claimed by Elias Salloum earlier this afternoon.
“One of the winners, Elias Salloum, who purchased his ticket in Fullerton is happily celebrating Valentine’s Day as we patiently wait for the other lucky winner to claim their prize. This will surely make Valentine’s Day one of their favorite days to celebrate from now on,” said Lezlie Puglia, Director of Communications for the California Lottery.
The cash prize for last Friday’s draw is the second largest since MEGA Millions began, reaching $1.3 million. In all, there have been 51 winning tickets for the 5/5 prize with a total of more than $15 million in prizes. With all MEGA Millions prizes combined, California has had more than 6.5 million winning tickets at a total of $466 million.
California schools receive at least 34% of all lottery sales and have benefited by more than one billion annually from the California State Lottery for the past five consecutive years.