A California Lottery sign in Cottonwood, California, in 2024.Photograph: Fred Greaves/ReutersAn unhoused man in California won $1m from a lottery ticket that he bought from a liquor store on the state’s central coast.The winner, who has not been publicly identified, purchased the scratcher ticket from Sandy’s Deli-Liquor in San Luis Obispo, where he has been a customer for years, according to media reports.“He came to the store, he scratched it and is like: ‘Oh my god, is that real?’” the store manager, Wilson Samaan, told KSBY. “He’s like: ‘Man, I’m not homeless anymore!’ I’m like: ‘Man, you hit the jackpot.’”The man initially thought he had won $100,000 before Samaan confirmed he had in fact won $1m. Samaan later drove the man, who doesn’t have a car, to Fresno so that he could turn in the ticket in person rather than mailing it. “I told him: ‘That’s a million-dollar ticket … I will drive you,’” he said.The winner told the outlet that the prize was “life-changing” and that he planned to use it for a down payment on a home in the area and for a car.In a video posted by a local business owner, the man confirmed his win, saying: “I won a million dollars here in Slo at Sandy’s liquor store and yes, I just can’t wait to get off the streets.”He won the prize with a Triple Red 777 scratcher. The odds of winning a prize of $1m with the ticket are one in 2,047,423, according to the California Lottery.Lottery officials cannot share information about a claim until it is verified, at which point the winner’s name and other prize details become public, according to a statement from the California Lottery. The California Lottery said it processes 10,000 claims a month, and more than 100 a year are $1m or larger.
