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California Lottery Winners

Here are the latest stories on big CA Lottery prizes won in the Golden State. Check back regularly for updated news and information on the lucky winners who have become instant millionaires recently in your area and statewide - could you be next?

Golden State Player Wins $1.76 billion on Powerball

October 11, 2023 - Following hot on the heels of a $1.08 billion win in July 2023, another Californian player snapped up $1.76 billion just 12 weeks later. The lump sum value of the jackpot was $774.1 million, and the winning ticket was sold in Kern County, at Midway Market and Liquor in Frazier Park. Theodorus Struyck claimed the jackpot five months later, representing a group of winners.

Californian player wins $1.08 billion Powerball jackpot

July 19, 2023 - A lucky Powerball player won the fifth-largest prize in the history of the game. After having rolled over 38 times, the grand prize was won Wednesday, July 19 2023. The ticket was sold in Los Angeles on Wall Street at Las Palmitas Mini Market. The winner was revealed at the end of March 2024 by the California Lottery. Her name is Yanira Alvarez and she claimed her prize back in October 2023, a few months after the winning draw took place. Mrs Alvarez chose the lump sum payment of $558.1 million.

World record $2.04 billion jackpot won in California

November 7, 2022 - A Californian player was the lucky person to bring to an end a run of 40 draws without a winner in Powerball on Monday November 7th 2022 when they scooped the biggest ever lottery jackpot of $2.04 billion in Powerball. The win was the first time a jackpot over $2 billion was ever offered and also resulted in a $997.6 million cash lump sum. The ticket was sold at Joe's Service Center, 15 W Woodbury Road, Altadena, CA 91001.

After more than three months of waiting for the winner to come forward, the California Lottery finally revealed their identity on Valentine’s Day. The lucky player’s name was Edwin Castro, although he stayed away from the press conference and said he wanted to remain as private as possible. He said he was ‘shocked and ecstatic’ to have won.

Castro opted to take the lump sum and, as California has no state tax for lottery wins, he could look forward to taking home around $634 million after federal withholding.

California Mega Millions Winner Claims $426 Million Jackpot

June 9, 2022 - Kristine Wellenstein was the only winner of the January 28, 2022 Mega Millions drawing after her ticket matched all six numbers drawn. She bought her lucky ticket at a Chevron station at 6061 Topanga Canyon Boulevard in Woodland Hills, Los Angeles County.

"When I realized I'd won, I was overcome with so many emotions, but mostly gratitude," Wellenstein recalled. She has big plans for her overnight wealth, too. "I want to give back and support local and global-based initiatives, and my team is in place to help achieve those objectives. The real impact of my life's work begins now."

California public education will receive $40 million in funding from tickets sold during the jackpot run, which started in October 2021. "We love having big jackpots and big wins in California," said California State Lottery Director Alva V. Johnson. "Higher jackpots typically result in higher sales, of course, and that means more money for public education, which we are proud to support."

$699.8 Million Powerball Prize Won by CA Ticket

October 4, 2021 - A single California ticket hit the sixth-largest ever Powerball jackpot on Monday after a record number of rollovers. It's the first top prize won in Powerball's new Monday draw, and the ninth-largest prize in US lottery history. The winning numbers on October 4 were white balls 12, 22, 54, 66 and 69, plus the Powerball, 15. The lucky ticket was sold by Albertsons, at 730 Quintana Rd. in Morro Bay, San Luis Obispo County.

$62 Million SuperLotto Plus Jackpot Hit in Van Nuys

July 10, 2021 - The first SuperLotto top prize of the year was won on Saturday, July 10 by a ticket sold in Van Nuys that matched all six numbers drawn: 15, 9, 11, 30, and 27, plus the Mega Ball 25. The winning ticket was purchased at Tori Liquor, 7300 Sepulveda Boulevard, Van Nuys.

Salem Faour is one of the owners of Tori Liquor, which has been family-run for 42 years. "My customers are like family," he said. "We have customers that come in every day, some for many years." Although he's sold winning CA Lottery tickets before, Saturday's prize is by far the largest amount won by a ticket sold by the store.

Tori Liquor will receive a $310,000 bonus commission from the Lottery, and Faour hasn't decided yet what to do with the windfall. "Maybe I'll pay off some debt, or maybe I'll donate it to charity," he commented.

Saturday also saw several more big SuperLotto wins of almost $25,000 each, with two tickets purchased in Atwater and San Ysidro matching the five main numbers without the Mega Ball.

Mega Millions Ticket Worth $2.3 Million Sold in Brentwood

January 6, 2021 - If you bought a Mega Millions ticket in Brentwood recently, check your numbers right away! One lucky ticket matched the five winning white ball numbers - 20, 43, 51, 55 and 57 - in the Tuesday, January 5 draw and is valued at a cool $2,390,663. The ticket only missed the Mega number, 4.

The ticket was purchased at the Chevron station at 5591 Lone Tree Way in Brentwood. Currently, we don't know who bought the ticket.

Tuesday's draw also saw a player in New York score the Match 5 plus Megaplier prize, meaning that ticket is worth $2 million. Additionally, two winners in Minnesota and New Jersey matched all five main numbers, hitting $1 million each.

Lottery officials say ticket purchases have been up recently after taking a hit last year. "During the first months of the pandemic, lottery sales were down and fewer Californians were buying tickets. But over the past several months we are returning to pre-pandemic sales, we are returning to normal," said Jorge DeLaCruz, a CA Lottery spokesperson.

Since no one hit the Mega Millions jackpot, it's rolled to almost half a billion dollars for the Friday, January 8 draw, with an estimated value of $490 million and a cash option of $372.3 million.

How about some fresh ideas for your picks? Check out the Mega Millions Smartpicks page for the latest hot and cold numbers.

This is only the third time in the history of Mega Millions and Powerball that both games have had jackpots over $400 million at the same time. Powerball's top prize stands at $470 million for the next draw on Saturday, January 9.

$1.9 Million Mega Millions Prize Won in Town of 31

December 30, 2020 - Heather Zal lives in the town of Shoshone, population just 31, in Inyo County. But the town's small size doesn't stop residents from dreaming big, as Zal demonstrated with a $1.9 million Mega Millions win for matching five out of six numbers drawn.

Zal's father, who purchased the ticket for her (thanks Dad!), says the lucky winner will use her windfall to pay off debt and assist her family. The retailer who sold the ticket, The Charles Brown Company at 712 CA-127, benefits too, with a $9,500 bonus.

Ventura County Player Wins After Gifting Tickets

December 30, 2020 - Janette Lujan's enthusiasm for Scratchers is well-known - and she recently shared the love by giving out tickets at a family dinner. However, there was an unexpected twist in store when Lujan's own ticket turned out to be worth $1 million. "You can imagine how that went!" she joked. Lujan picked up the tickets from Circle K at 2323 North Oxnard Boulevard in Oxnard, Ventura County. The store will be paid a $5,000 extra commission selling the lucky ticket.

Players Solve $2 Million Crossword Puzzle

December 30, 2020 - Darlene Pang and Bernard Schmall III are each $2 million better off after scratching their way to seven-figure wins on the Instant Prize Crossword game. Pang purchased her lucky Scratchers ticket at 5 Star Liquor, 9461 Edinger Avenue in Westminster, Orange County. Schmall picked up his ticket at J Food & Liquor at 10401 Folsom Boulevard in Rancho Cordova, Sacramento County. The CA Lottery will pay each store an extra $10,000.

Million Dollar Multiplier Scratcher Delivers on its Name

December 30, 2020 - Just in time for New Year's celebrations, two players scored $1 million each on the aptly-named Million Dollar Multiplier Scratchers game. Juan Camarena bought his lucky ticket from The Corner Store, located at 220 Alta Street in Gonzales, Monterey County, and Alfonso Sanabria purchased his ticket from Frank’s Liquor at 4023 West 3rd Street in LA. Each store will receive a $5,000 bonus.

SuperLotto Plus Jackpot Won in San Jose

December 27, 2020 - A lucky SuperLotto player has 18 million reasons to celebrate after winning the jackpot on Saturday! The ticket for the December 27 drawing matched all six winning numbers: 6, 32, 19, 4, and 16 plus Mega Ball 2. The ticket was sold by Cafe Paradise, at 2400 Monterey Highway in San Jose, and the retailer will receive a $90,000 bonus from the CA Lottery.

Four tickets also hit SuperLotto's second prize on Saturday, winning $8,699 each by matching the five main numbers. In an unusual twist, two of the lucky tickets were purchased at the same 7-Eleven store in Vallejo, Solano County, although it's not known whether they were bought by the same player.

Five New Holiday Millionaires Made Across CA

December 21, 2020 - Five lucky Californians have won seven-figure Scratchers prizes just in time for the holidays.

$1.9 Million Porterville Powerball Ticket Still Unclaimed

December 3, 2020 - If you bought a Powerball ticket in Porterville back in October, it's time to clean out the car and look behind the couch cushions, because you could be sitting on $1.9 million right now (maybe literally)!

The lucky ticket was purchased from Express Mart & Gas in Porterville, Tulare County. It matched the five white ball numbers in the Saturday, October 24 drawing to hit the game's Match 5 second prize. The winning numbers were 18, 20, 27, 45 and 65 - the ticket only missed the red Powerball, 6.

The ticket's exact value is $1,904,535 before tax withholdings. "It feels good that someone from Porterville finally won," said the gas station's manager, Adel Joudi, who thinks the winner lives locally. The largest previous prize won on a ticket sold by the station was $5,000, so "a big win is overdue."

Joudi urged the winner not to stop playing. "It's never enough. Keep trying for the jackpot."

The last California resident to take home the Powerball top prize was Bill Lawrence; the Gold Ranch retiree hit it big with a $150 million win on November 2, 2019 and chose to receive the cash option of just over $100 million.

Two Central Valley Residents Become Scratchers Millionaires

October 31, 2020 - They live on opposite ends of the Central Valley, but two CA Lottery players now have millions of things in common.

Ramon Gonzalez of the North Valley purchased a winning Golden State Riches Scratchers ticket worth $5 million from Cressey Store in Merced County. Down in the South Valley, Armando Hernandez Robles hit a $2 million prize on the Instant Prize Crossword Scratchers ticket he picked up at Pixley Gas in Tulare County.

Both retailers will be paid a Lottery bonus for their sale of the winning ticket. The Cressey Store will receive $25,000, which it plans to invest in renovations, while Pixley Gas will get an extra $10,000.

The town of Cressey, population about 400, is excited about the big-dollar win. "It puts us on the map," laughed Cressey Store owner Indarpal Mann. "We get something out of it. It definitely helps the business - it definitely helps the lottery sales. A lot of people have been buying the bigger priced tickets ... hopefully we get more winners."

The CA Lottery contributed $17,545,787 to public schools in Tulare County in the first half of fiscal year 2019-20, while Merced County schools received $11,345,754.