Calif. man claims half of $333M Mega Millions lottery jackpot

Sep 4, 2009, 9:39 am (18 comments)

Mega Millions

A Southern California man has claimed one half of the $333 million Mega Millions lottery jackpot.

The California Lottery said Wednesday that Kevyn Ogawa had the winning numbers for the August 28th drawing. He took the cash option, meaning he'll take home about $107 million.

Lottery officials say Ogawa, who preferred not to be interviewed, went to the Van Nuys lottery office Wednesday to claim his prize.

He bought his ticket from an Asian noodle shop in San Gabriel. The business will receive a bonus of $832,500 for selling the winning ticket.

The other winning ticket was sold in New York, and was claimed earlier this week.

Mega Millions is a multi-state game played in 12 states.

Noodle shop that sold lottery ticket basks in the rich broth of fame

Kim Ky Noodle House in San Gabriel is best known for its simple and affordable fare. A bowl of noodles goes for less than $5.

But after a customer purchased a winning lottery ticket there last week worth $166.5 million — the second-biggest Mega Millions jackpot in California history — the restaurant became an instant landmark.

"People from Monrovia, L.A., even San Francisco called to get our address," restaurant manager Linda Wong said during the lunch rush Tuesday. "They say, 'I never heard of you before.' They don't even know what we sell. They just want our address and directions."

California Lottery spokesman Alex Traverso said Kevyn Ogawa, 33, of the San Fernando Valley claimed his prize in the multi-state game on Tuesday. Ogawa told officials he did not want to be interviewed.

The odds of winning Friday's jackpot was one in 176 million, state officials said. What made the win even sweeter for Ogawa was that he bought only one lottery ticket, for a dollar.

"That's about the biggest return on investment of any winner," Traverso said. The winning combination was 37, 1, 17, 31, 54 and mega number 31.

But Kim Ky Noodle House is the other big winner. The little neighborhood restaurant is enjoying its newfound popularity.

Inside the bustling eatery, with its East-meets-West decor of Christmas tree ornaments dangling from the ceiling and Chinese-language karaoke blasting from TVs, customers slurped pasta thick and thin this week and gossiped about the big win. The restaurant's owners taped posters inscribed with the nine-figure jackpot on all the mirrored walls.

"Makes me sick to see that sign," said David Tran, 28, of Alhambra, pulling at his skinny egg noodles with chopsticks. "I bought a ticket a week ago. That could have been me!"

Cinthia Lynn of Arcadia said she had just picked up her sister at the airport and drove her straight to her favorite noodle shop.

Lynn recounted how she had plunked down five bucks there last week for lottery tickets.

"I didn't win," she said. "Not even $1 million."

But she did win sister Yen Tran's approval for picking Kim Ky's for lunch. Tran had flown in from Vietnam a few hours earlier and for her first meal in the U.S. ordered a bowl of rice porridge, a typical Asian breakfast. It made her feel right at home, except for the portion, which was typically American.

"It's big," she said.

Some people were more interested in getting rich than getting fed.

"I already ate," said Richard Yeh, 50, who pushed through the front door and headed straight to the cashier to buy his tickets. "It could happen again," he said. "The god of good fortune is here. Do you believe it?"

Jessie Mendez, 68, a retired plant worker for GM, said he had never eaten at Kim Ky's. But he comes a few times a week just to try his luck with the lottery.

"I spent $392 yesterday," Mendez said. "I got nothing. I've been playing 35 years."

When they opened for business in 2001, the owners of the noodle house said, all they wanted was the chance to make an honest living, one bowl at a time. They were as surprised as anyone when Ogawa's big jackpot was traced back to their restaurant.

"That person is really lucky," said Vin Lay, 55, a Cambodian Chinese immigrant and one of the five owners.

Lay fled the "killing fields" of Cambodia before immigrating to the U.S. in 1981; the others are Vietnamese Chinese who fled Vietnam after the fall of Saigon in 1975.

The owners will split a bonus of $832,500 for selling the winning ticket. They plan to celebrate today by giving away free lottery tickets to all their customers.

AP, LA Times, Lottery Post Staff

Comments

RJOh's avatarRJOh

The owners will split a bonus of $832,500 for selling the winning ticket.

That's the largest amount that I've ever heard of a retailer getting for selling the winning lottery ticket.

Congratulations to the winner and the noodle shop owners.

ThatScaryChick's avatarThatScaryChick

Yeah RJOh, I have never heard of store owners getting that much either. I thought the that the stores usual got between $10,000 to $50,000 for selling a winning ticket. Either way, congrats to the winner and the store owners. They must be feeling really good at the moment.

Jazi76

What made the win even sweeter for Ogawa was that he bought only one lottery ticket, for a dollar.

After reading stories of winners who say that statement, I will never spend more than $2 or $3, no matter how big the jackpot gets.  It is just a waste to spend, and probably lose, more than that on lottery ticket, in my own opinion of course.

Dollar419's avatarDollar419

There was a short newspaper article along with a photo of the restaurant in the L.A. Times on 9/3/09--talk about LUCK OF THE DRAWWink

CONGRATULATIONS TO THE WINNER AND KIM KY NOODLE HOUSE Hurray!

michael 777

107 million, instant ripp off to the winner

x1kosmic's avatarx1kosmic

I was hoping it would be a California member

    like mabey  member       bytheshore

Anyway  like scary said,  I'll bet they're feeling real good

  a noodle shop...... who woulda thunk it.

     I guess that ends Mega-Fever till next time.

wizeguy's avatarwizeguy

Quote: Originally posted by x1kosmic on Sep 4, 2009

I was hoping it would be a California member

    like mabey  member       bytheshore

Anyway  like scary said,  I'll bet they're feeling real good

  a noodle shop...... who woulda thunk it.

     I guess that ends Mega-Fever till next time.

Congrats to Me Ogawa. It's next time already here for Mega-Fever! I have my $1 ticket for this evening. Thumbs Up

barbos's avatarbarbos

Quote: Originally posted by RJOh on Sep 4, 2009

The owners will split a bonus of $832,500 for selling the winning ticket.

That's the largest amount that I've ever heard of a retailer getting for selling the winning lottery ticket.

Congratulations to the winner and the noodle shop owners.

   That is not the largest one - the Anaheim business that sold  $315M ticket to "lucky 7" group received             a $1 000 000 bonus.

  Californian rules give retailer 0,5% of the jackpot ticket sold but the maximum amount has a $1 000 000 cap. So any retailer who sells a winning ticket for $200M or above gets his million.  Of course it would be the business owner not the guy at the counter.

time*treat's avatartime*treat

"I spent $392 yesterday," Mendez said. "I got nothing. I've been playing 35 years."

 No Pity!

LckyLary

1. AS I PREDICTED, there was immediately another winner (in GA) on the next drawing for $12 million. Although, the bonus ball 19 and not 10 as I had thought.

2. Sidebar: what is the most unusual place you have seen a Lottery terminal? I would vote for a nail salon in the Rockaway Mall #1 and this noodle joint as #2.

3. Why's that dude sawing his guitar??

4. If it's QP, then whoever pushed the key on the terminal at exactly the right instant when the RNG had the winning set, should get a bonus.

5. On major jackpots usually much more people played many tickets. Thus it's possible but rare for the winner to have bought one ticket. Also why so often the winner is a group. The odds are better with more tickets, that's just a hard reality, but a good enough algorithm can make a few tickets have the same chance as a tall stack of QP.

dk1421's avatardk1421

What I like about this story is that the shop is giving away free lottery tickets on one day to celebrate! Which is great PR for them whether another person wins or not.

This is the first I've heard of a store doing something for others with the money.

barbos's avatarbarbos

Quote: Originally posted by dk1421 on Sep 4, 2009

What I like about this story is that the shop is giving away free lottery tickets on one day to celebrate! Which is great PR for them whether another person wins or not.

This is the first I've heard of a store doing something for others with the money.

  In my opinion "free tickets" is not a smart PR - as a result the crowd may take that place apart, you should understand how big is LA population.  In their place I would offer tickets for a half-price - good PR and the building survives.

vistaguy

Quote: Originally posted by barbos on Sep 5, 2009

  In my opinion "free tickets" is not a smart PR - as a result the crowd may take that place apart, you should understand how big is LA population.  In their place I would offer tickets for a half-price - good PR and the building survives.

I thought the same thing. Those tickets wont be free, the shop owner will have to pay for them. There goes the $832, 000 he won...

diamondpalace's avatardiamondpalace

Fun story.

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