SACRAMENTO – Joel Ortega, an Inglewood resident, won $761,418 in last Tuesday’s MEGA Millions drawing after matching 5 out of 6 numbers, proving that even if you don’t win the jackpot, you can still win a huge amount of money! More than 195,000 California other players won $932,945 from the MEGA Millions draw that night.
“I just recently started playing MEGA Millions!” said Ortega. When asked what he would like to do with his three quarters of a million dollar prize Ortega said, “I’d like to invest in a house and maybe even buy a restaurant someday, because cooking has always been my passion!”
Ortega serves as proof that hard work pays off. He said that he didn’t have the chance to claim his prize until today, because he didn’t want to miss work. Luckily, Tuesday is his day off which allowed Ortega to visit the Santa Fe Springs Lottery Office to claim his winnings. Ortega, who works as a busboy at The Ivy restaurant, also added, “I don’t plan to stop working!”
Ortega purchased his winning ticket at Young’s Shell at 4403 S. Figueroa Street, Los Angeles, CA 90037. Players have another chance to win big money with tonight’s MEGA Millions now at $250 million or Wednesday’s SuperLOTTO Plus jackpot at $86 million. MEGA Millions tickets are available at the Lottery’s approximately 19,000 retail locations statewide. The MEGA Millions draw takes place each Tuesday and Friday night at 8:00 p.m. Players may purchase MEGA Millions tickets until 7:45 p.m. on the night of the draw.
The California State 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 $19 billion to California schools out of total sales of more than $52 billion. Retailers win too, earning $3.3 billion in compensation since 1985.