California Lottery: Aspiring actress and fiancé win half of $99 million Calif. lotteryAn aspiring actress and her fiancé, a Navy man, claimed half of the $99 million dollar Superlotto jackpot from Wednesday's draw.
The couple claimed their prize Thursday at a 2:30 pm press conference in Los Angeles. They have chosen to receive a lump sum payment of about $26 million.
The ticket was sold at a store in Hollywood. That store's owner will receive half of one percent of each winning ticket sold. The winners are Robynn Newton, 29, of Hollywood and her fiancé, Wesley Dorsi, who is in the Navy and is stationed in Coronado, California Lottery officials said.
Lottery officials are still waiting for the person -or people- holding the second winning ticket to come forward. It was purchased at a Santa Clara convenience store.
Although the person who purchased the other winning lottery ticket at a 7-Eleven store on Bing Drive in Santa Clara has not spoken out, the store's owner and family members aren't so shy.
"He's happy," said Parminder Badwal, the brother of store owner Narinder Badwal, who has owned the store for about 15 years.
As owner of the store, Badwal will receive $245,000 for selling the ticket -- assuming the winner steps forward to claim the prize with 180 days. Half of that will go to the 7-Eleven franchise.
Wednesday's jackpot was quite a bit shy of the record $141 million Alcario Castellano of San Jose took when his numbers were drawn June 23, 2001, for the highest lottery payday for any individual in the state.
Parminder Badwal said this is the first time the store has had a big winner. He estimated that the store sold about 2,600 tickets Wednesday alone.
Wednesday's drawing drew considerable excitement, but it was a good deal less than the overall record of $193 million, set in February 2002. There were three winning tickets for that one, including one purchased by Half Moon Bay resident Andy Kampe, who won $64.3 million.
Another recent jackpot ticket for the September tenth draw, worth $28.5 million has not been claimed.
