A homeless man in California obtained a “life-changing” sum of cash, to the tune of $1 million, after hitting the jackpot on a scratch-off ticket, earlier than proudly exclaiming, “Man, I’m not homeless anymore!”
The fortunate winner, who has not been publicly recognized, purchased the ticket from Sandy’s Deli-Liquor in San Luis Obispo, the place he has been a longtime buyer, Sandy’s supervisor Wilson Samaan advised 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 mentioned. “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 mentioned.
Samaan then drove the winner, who doesn’t have a automobile, to Fresno so he may flip within 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 mentioned.
A spokesperson from the CA State Lottery mentioned a couple of issues should occur earlier than the cash could be awarded.
“With a million-dollar ticket like this, the person who comes forward can expect a very thorough vetting process,” spokesperson Carolyn Becker advised 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 course of can take a couple of weeks to months as a result of the lottery processes over 10,000 profitable claims a month, Becker mentioned.
The winner mentioned he hopes to make use of the “life-changing” amount of cash to make a down fee on a house alongside California’s Central Coast and get a automobile, earlier than investing and saving the remainder.
