A homeless man in California received a “life-changing” sum of money, to the tune of $1 million, after hitting the jackpot on a scratch-off ticket, before proudly exclaiming, “Man, I’m not homeless anymore!”
The lucky winner, who has not been publicly identified, bought the ticket from Sandy’s Deli-Liquor in San Luis Obispo, where he has been a longtime customer, Sandy’s manager Wilson Samaan told KSBY.
“He came to the store, he scratched it and is like, ‘Oh, my god. Is that real? Wilson can you come and take a look?’” Samaan said. “I’m like, ‘Let me see,’ so I grabbed the ticket out of his hand and went to the machine over there.”
“He’s like, ‘Man, I’m not homeless anymore!’ I’m like, ‘Man, you hit the jackpot.’ He’s like, ‘$100,000’ and I’m like, ‘No, bro. That’s $1 million. Congrats brother,’ so, and we gave each other a high five,” Samaan said.
Samaan then drove the winner, who does not have a car, to Fresno so he could turn in the ticket.
“He’s like, ‘Do I want to send it in the mail?’ And I told him, ‘That’s a million-dollar ticket. No, I will drive you,’” he said.
A spokesperson from the CA State Lottery said a few things have to happen before the money can be awarded.
“With a million-dollar ticket like this, the person who comes forward can expect a very thorough vetting process,” spokesperson Carolyn Becker told the outlet. “As you can imagine, we give away a lot of prize money at the CA lottery, and we are happy to do it, but we want to make sure we are giving it to the right person.”
The vetting process can take a few weeks to months because the lottery processes over 10,000 winning claims a month, Becker said.
The winner said he hopes to use the “life-changing” amount of money to make a down payment on a home along California’s Central Coast and get a car, before investing and saving the rest.
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