FRESNO, Calif. — A California man is $30.5 million richer after splitting Tuesday night's $61 million Mega Millions jackpot with a co-winner from Massachusetts.
he winning ticket was sold at the 7-Eleven store on Shaw and Maple in the last week.
Just after 7 a.m. Wednesday morning there was a small celebration going on inside the 7-Eleven store across the street from Fresno State. The clerks were shaking the hands with a man and smiling. A 7-Eleven official confirmed that man was the winner of the $30.5 million MEGA Millions jackpot.
As quickly as he came in to get his usual Red Bull drink, he was out and on his way to work.
Action News spoke with him for a quick second and he was still in shock. He said his name was Alex and that he worked at Fresno State on the field. When asked when he was going to cash in the winning ticket, he laughed, and left.
Store clerks say Alex is a regular customer and a very nice man. Local lottery officials say this $30 million dollar win is exciting for everyone.
"Not too often we get a big winner. Because we're talking about 38 different states that are in the pool for the Mega Millions so it's yeah it's kind of a big deal for California to have a big winner," said California State Lottery Fresno supervisor Henry Hernandez.
Wednesday morning, California Lottery officials put up the store's first ever "millionaires made here" sign. With a matching ticket, that means the store also wins as well — and in fact, this is the store's first big win.
The franchisee will receive half a percent of the winner's earnings, which amounts to a little more than $152 thousand. As of late Wednesday morning, the winner had not stopped by the local California Lottery office to cash in his ticket.
The total Mega Millions jackpot was $61 million dollars. Two people in the country had those magic Mega Million numbers. Besides Fresno, the other winning ticket was sold in Massachusetts.
Hurrah again for California!
I knew you guys would pull it off again.
Congrats! Alex hope you spend your money wisely.
Congrats on your win,Alex.
Nice job Alex, congrats and enjoy.
Sully, you have a great heart. Not a jealous bone in your body. I wish I was more like you. I'm learning from your example.
Awesome win!
Yeah man! California has hit 5 jackpots this year. And my brother in LA won't even play the lottery (sigh).
Send him $20. and get 2 lines for 10 draws...... Perhaps you will win.....
Great idea Ronnie, thanks!
What was that lottery official talking about? California always seems to win Mega, they have at least one second prize winner every drawing. Makes you wonder...
With as many people in Ca, 2nd prize is no big deal.
Again.... more people in Ca, more in Ca buy tics, more winners as a result. We're not talking calculus here.
"A 7-Eleven official confirmed that man was the winner of the $30.5 million MEGA Millions jackpot."
When did California privatize their lottery, and why did they pick 7 Eleven?
7-11 sold him the winning ticket.
Thats a big chunk of change for the store.
7-11 sells a lot of winning tickets just because of their sheer volume of stores.
They sold one of the winning tickets, for the $658 million Mega Millions Jackpot back in March.
Maybe people should network, and start lottery pools with other 7-11 stores throughout the country.
Lets start pools of 711 people, who each invest $711, for 7 months and 11 days, at 711 stores.
Congratulations the winner.....
That's totally a good news for the people of California... How I wish I was there too at the 7-Eleven store to shake his hands. Who could that be the second person who've won the other half of the $61 million? Just a thought of who's the other half...
mcginnin, you're so clever! You're killing me brother!
7-11 is a thing of the past in AZ.
Were just a big think tank here golfer, always gotta be looking for that next elusive opportunity.
Good luck this evening!
why is that, Ronnie?
QT came in with clean stores that have clean and accessible rest rooms.Everyone is more than happy to pay a few extra cents for gas at any one of the abundant locations.... Your truly included...... lol. lol.
It was three 7-11 stores that the investment group from Australia used years ago when they tried to buy all the possible combinations for the Virgina lottery. The history of 7-11 stores and lotteries go back a few years.
The 7-11s around here are poorly run and desperate for customers. There is always a clerk who hates working there and is pleased to make sure everyone knows just how much they hate their job.
Tonight's PB losers won't be able to blame the results on California so they'll have to blame another state. I hope it's Ohio.
You will need to get in line behind AZ because I have a lock on the winning numbers.......
Besides, tonight is an MM draw so you will need to wait til tomorrow to win the PB draw..........
Ronnie, I never heard of these stores. They are nice. We don't have any in my area of New Jersey.
They're probably too clean for New Jerseys low standards.
(just kiddding golfer!).
I know you're kidding brother! New Jersey is getting better.
We've even got clean water now!!
Wow! Does it still have that light brown color, with a funky odor?
They should bottle that stuff, I'd buy a few cases just for bragging rights!
I wouldn't drink it though, I'd use it as my transmission fluid.
mcgininin you're killing me!
I won't ever bring up that sewer sludge, that gets recycled and filtered back into your water supply.
That would be just cruel and insensitive!
Stop, you're making me cry!!
Absurd for the lottery official to state they rarely have jackpot winners.... I'd have to see stats to believe the ratio of winning tickets to tickets sold is the same for cali as other places. I accept politics and business play a role in the lottery.
Yo Golfer1960,
Down here we have stores called wawa and some have gaspumps, to bad they don't sell tix.
they all over the place here, don't know if they expanded as far north as you are.
There's one 7-11 not to far from me that's considered a lucky location and I buy tix. there sometimes, but that's the only thing I buy there,
use to go there more often when I lived in that town.
Not too often we get a big winner. Because we're talking about 38 different states that are in the pool for the Mega Millions so it's yeah it's kind of a big deal for California to have a big winner," said California State Lottery Fresno supervisor Henry Hernandez.
These are from the official mega millions website
2012
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5 wins is not too often!? I want an investigation! Something doesn't smell right.
I don't play mega millions anymore. Once powerball expands to california I won't be playing that one either.
Man cali sure does win their fair share of the mega millions jackpots and if they join powerball you can expect that to happen in powerball too. I am just asking for one before I take the dirt nap.-weshar75
Just to be extra safe pickone4me, better to not play lottery, scratch, card or casino games of any type.
For that matter a wager on anything, even betting on how long it would take for a chicken to cross the road, is probably rigged by the state.
Hopefully all who heed this advice will follow suit. Trust, integrity, peace and order shall be restored. Lives will be saved. God bless America.
Nice sarcasm bit anyways.
Yes haymaker, we have Wawa here too. They sell lottery tix but I usually go to 7-11 for tix because I love the coffee there. I also go to Kwik Farms stores (Luk Oil gas stations) for tix.
But do they have clean accessible rest rooms.....
May 15, 2012 - $25 million won by Ruth Kraft of Beverly Hills, CA
I wonder if this the same Kraft of Salad Dressing Fortune.
I thought they were all rich in Beverly hills, what do they need more money for?
(cue the bentley)
it's been two weeks since this article was written and there is nothing about the winner on the CA lottery website or the official MM website. I wonder what's taking so long.
They need the extra money to put their chauffeurs kids through Ivy League schools.
Why don't people understand this.
Perhaps a law making them a protected class is in order.......
Would this qualify as saying something intelligent.
