SACRAMENTO – A part-time student with a part-time job in an auto parts store came forward this morning to collect the $8 million SuperLotto® jackpot he won on Saturday night.
The man, who asked to remain anonymous, lives in the Highland Park region of Southern California and currently attends classes at Pasadena City College. He claimed his riches at the Lottery’s Santa Fe Springs District Office this morning.
The winner stated that he plays Lottery games only sparingly, but decided that since it was New Year’s he would indulge and buy a few tickets. He matched all six numbers in Saturday’s SuperLotto Plus draw, but didn’t find out he was a winner until yesterday – and with good reason. “I was still partying from New Year’s,” he said, but added that he started to have a feeling he might be the winner when one of his friends who had seen the news saw there was a winner from their area. “He said ‘did you see that someone from our neighborhood won the jackpot?’” He then called his mom, checked his ticket, and confirmed his win.
His plans are to quit his job and go to school full-time. In addition, he’d like to help others, as well as “travel to the corners of the world.”
The $8 million ticket was purchased at La Tropicana Market, which is located at 5200 Monte Vista Street in Los Angeles. The winning numbers on the ticket were 19, 9, 4, 41, 24, and the Mega number was 9.
The California Lottery would like to remind winners to sign the back of their tickets, keep their tickets in a safe place and contact Lottery officials or visit their local Lottery District Office as soon as possible. Winners have 180 days from the date of the draw to claim prizes.
The California Lottery is celebrating its 25th year of enhancing education and supporting local communities. 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 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 the Lottery’s inception in 1985, Lottery players have contributed nearly $22 billion to California schools out of total sales of more than $59 billion. Retailers benefit too, earning $3.8 billion in compensation since 1985.