Homeless man wins $1M on scratch lottery ticket bought in California liquor store

A homeless man living in California won $1 million on a scratch-off lottery ticket, according to local reports.

The man, who has chosen to remain anonymous, purchased his ticket from Sandy's Deli-Liquor in San Luis Obispo. The store manager, Wilson Samaan, told Cal Coastal News that the winner is a loyal regular and sometimes helps him by watching over the front of his shop.

Samaan told KSBY that the winner initially misread his ticket and thought he'd won $100,000. It was only after Samaan took a look at the ticket that he realized his customer had actually won the full million.

"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 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. Thats $1 million. Congrats brother,' so, and we gave each other a high five."

The shop manager confirmed that he sold the $1 million winning ticket, but went a step further for his customer by driving him to the California Lottery office in Fresno. The winner initially planned to mail his ticket it, but Samaan insisted that he drive him to make sure it got to lottery officials without issue.

Samaan said he was overjoyed for his customer's good fortune, and that the winner deserved to catch a break.

“I was so excited he hit the jackpot because he deserves it,” Samaan said. “It’s like when good things happen to good people.”

The winning ticket was a Red 777 Scratcher. Samaan said it was the first time anyone has won a lottery prize of that size from his store.

Lottery officials told KSBY that there is a vetting process for all winners before the state releases any money. Typically, the process takes a few months.

"With a million-dollar ticket like this, the person who comes forward can expect a very thorough vetting process," Carolyn Becker, a spokesperson for the CA State Lottery, 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 man who won told KSBY that he intends to make a down payment on a home, to get himself a car and to bank the rest of his money.