South Bay grandfather wins $1 million scratcher, as granddaughter looks on
A winning $100 Million Mega Cash scratchers game was purchased at the Gateway Food & Liquor store in San Jose, Calif.
SAN JOSE, Calif. - A South Bay grandfather has struck it rich, winning the top prize of $1 million in a California Lottery scratchers game.
Jess Daniels said he was out and about running errands when he decided to pick up some scratchers tickets at the Gateway Food & Liquor store on North Bascom Avenue in San Jose.
Once Daniels got home, he casually took a load off, trying to decide if he wanted to play his lottery games or lie down for a nap.
He opted to get some food and sit down to start working on his scratchers, with his granddaughter on hand to watch him play.
What we know:
He scratched off his first $100 Million Mega Cash ticket, which won him $20, lottery officials explained in a news release last week.
"Okay, cool," Daniels was quoted as saying.
The grandfather then moved on to his second ticket, applying his special method to reveal the numbers.
"I scratch all the winning numbers first, then all the player’s numbers. Then I start checking them," Daniels explained. "So I went down the rows, first row—43? Nope. 27? Nope. 16? Nope," the California Lottery quoted Daniels as saying.
He then moved on to the next winning number.
"OH! I’ve got number 19!" Daniels said. "So, I started to scratch it."
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The longtime California Lottery player is no stranger to winning. He’s taken home $1,000 before as part of his winnings, and he thought this was another lucky $1,000 moment.
But the zeros kept coming, and that luck was even bigger than he could have imagined.
"It wasn’t until he finished scratching that he realized he had won a $1 million prize," state lottery officials said.
‘Oh my God, Grandpa!’
Daniels’ granddaughter couldn’t believe it either and burst out with excitement.
"Oh my God, Grandpa! Oh my God!" his granddaughter cried out.
The backstory:
Officials said Daniels has been playing California Lottery games since the agency's inception 40 years ago.
The odds of winning the top $1 million prize in the $100 Million Mega Cash game are one in 2,049,669, according to state lottery figures.
Lucky number 19
For Daniels, this lucky experience has revealed to him what his magic number will be from here on out.
In addition to 19 being the winning number, Daniels noted that he purchased the scratcher on the 19th of December. He also said that when he filled out the paperwork to claim his jackpot, it required a 19-digit number.
And it was on the 19th of February, he received his winnings.
"So, number 19 is now my lucky number," the lottery winner said.