Homeless Couple Strikes It Rich with $1M Scratch-Off Win in California

An anonymous homeless person and his wife won $1,000,000 off a scratch-up ticket in California. The person, details about whom are scarce, but whose identity has been confirmed by the California Lottery all the same, has had difficulty believing his luck at first.

Some Zeroes Are Missing in the Lottery Win

Although he was homeless, he was regular at Sandy’s Deli-Liquor shop, where the winning ticket was bought. The winner thought he had won $100,000 at first, an oversight that the store manager, one Wilson Samaan, quickly corrected.

The person was befuddled to have won the initial $100,000 and asked Samaan for assistance to help him confirm that this was indeed the sum. Speaking to the media, Samaan recounted the story, correcting the winner and saying “No, bro. That’s $1 million. Congrats, brother.” 

The pair then gave each other a high five and went on to speak about the person’s character. Samaan described the winner as a “good guy” who deserved every penny of the amount he scooped. The winning event was special for Samaan as well, as this was the first seven-figure win at his store.

The game played was Red 777 Scratcher, but while Samaan has been content to not let on any of the details, others have not been so respectful of the winner’s privacy. For example, a store close by was able to catch a video of the winner, shared on Instagram, and showing a man with a large beard ambling out of Samaan’s store.

Winners May Need to Wait for a While Longer

The winner is supposedly in his 40s, and it’s unclear how he became homeless. However, the owner of the footage, one Adam Kemp, said that the man was not sleeping rough alone – both he and his life were forced on the streets, but as to what the reason remained unclear.

However, this is an opportunity for the couple to finally return to more normal and secure living arrangements. The drawback is that they may need to wait for up to a few months before the California Lottery can finalize verifying the winners and before any money may be released.

“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,” a spokesperson for the lottery said.