Routine drive home turns out to be life-changing

Includes video report

By Kate Northrop

ANAHEIM, Calif. — A routine drive home went from mundane to life-changing the second one California woman revealed a $10 million prize amount on a scratch-off lottery ticket.

A California woman became a multi-millionaire on the way home from work when she won $10 million on a scratch-off lottery ticket, instantly changing her life course and retirement prospects.

Nora Hammersteadt began her usual drive home from the office when something told her to stop at the local liquor store to play the lottery. She pulled over at Anaheim Liquor on South Euclid Street in Anaheim.

She noticed an elaborate, gold $30 game called "Royal Riches," which offered a $10 million top prize, and picked out a ticket. Hammersteadt was not sure what she was expecting, but it certainly was not walking out of the store $10 million richer.

"I've won a few thousand dollars playing before, but nothing like this," Hammersteadt told the California Lottery. "It was a shocker."

She had indeed won the game's top prize of $10 million, an unbelievable amount that dwarfs Hammersteadt's $100 win from another game she had bought.

"I was thinking 'this can't be real, I must be dreaming!'" the lucky winner continued. "I'm going to pinch myself and wake up one of these days."

Hammersteadt waited an entire week before she finally had time to turn in the winning ticket at a California Lottery office, describing every day at work as "torture."

"It was crazy that week; I was just in a daze. One of the hardest parts was I had to keep it a secret. I couldn't tell anyone because you know how people talk," she laughed.

Now that the prize is safely tucked away in her bank account, she's only just starting to realize the incredible comfort that the winnings will bring.

"It really got real when I turned it in at the Lottery office," Hammersteadt recalled. "That's when it was excitement time and realized retirement is coming two years sooner than I had planned."

For selling the winning ticket, the retailer received a $50,000 bonus from the Lottery.

There are currently three out of six top prizes of $10 million remaining in the $30 "Royal Riches" scratch-off game, as well as eight out of 12 second-tier prizes of $750,000 and 31 out of 62 third-tier prizes of $50,000.

The overall odds of winning any prize in the game are 1 in 2.71.

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