No matter how much she tried to convince herself that her ticket couldn’t possibly be a winner, there was no denying it – Patricia Zalpis had just won an instant $1 million playing the California Lottery’s Millions in Cash Scratchers game.
Zalpis, a 60-year-old mother of three who resides in Clearlake, came into the Lottery’s Sacramento District Office this morning to claim her prize. She purchased her winning ticket at Foods Etc, which is located at 15290 Lakeshore Drive in Clearlake.
She bought her Millions in Cash ticket along with several other Scratchers game tickets and decided to scratch them off in the store. After working her way through several non-winners, she slowly began to scratch the Millions in Cash ticket. After seeing she had matched the winning number, she went to work scratching the prize amount, thinking she had maybe won a free ticket.
“At first I thought I won 10 dollars, then 100, then 1,000, and then I saw the million and I thought ‘no way,’” said Zalpis dismissively. “So I set that ticket aside and won $8 on my other tickets and then went back to it. I just could not digest it.
“I had the shakes when I took it to the retailer to check it and she asked me ‘oh, do you have a big winner there?’ and I nodded,” she continued. “I was almost afraid to have her check it.”
When the retailer confirmed her big win, the retailer and Zalpis excitedly hugged and Zalpis began exclaiming “Oh my God!” over and over again.
The win is good news for the whole family: Zalpis, a former Census worker, plans to give some of the cash to her children. She also plans to pay off some bills and buy some property.