An 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.