Unexpected circumstances give winner a new lucky number

By Kate Northrop

SAN JOSE, Calif. — The number 19 pulled through for one California man in an astonishing number of ways, including in the form of a $1 million top prize on a scratch-off ticket.

One California resident will forever credit the number 19 as his luckiest number after several instances of the number coincided with his spectacular $1 million win in the lottery.

Jess Daniels was facing a long day of errands — what better way to break up the monotony of the day than with the lottery? He decided to follow through on the idea and purchased some scratch-off tickets at Gateway Food & Liquor on North Bascom Avenue in San Jose.

He continued on with the day and rounded it off with some grocery shopping before heading home. Daniels grabbed a snack and sat down, wondering to himself, "Should I take a nap or scratch these tickets?"

The latter prevailed, so he grabbed a piece of chicken and brought out his tickets to play. He was joined by his granddaughter, who looked on.

"I got to the first ticket, the sister to the winning ticket, and saw number 43; it was twenty bucks," Daniels recalled to California Lottery officials. "Ok, cool."

He moved on to the next $10 "$100 Million Mega Cash" ticket and scratched it using the same method.

"I scratch all the winning numbers first, then all the player's numbers," he explained. "Then, I start checking them. So, I went down the rows, first row — 43? Nope. 27? Nope. 16? Nope."

The next row would prove to be much more fruitful than the last.

"Oh! I've got number 19! So, I started to scratch it," the avid lottery player continued. He had won $1,000 in the past, so he considered the possibility that he might have won the same prize again.

"Hey, maybe it's $1,000," he thought to himself as he uncovered the first few zeros. A few more zeros later, it dawned on him that he had just won a million dollars.

"Oh my God, Grandpa! Oh my God!" his granddaughter shouted as she watched him win.

The series of coincidences that followed the win only cemented number 19 as his new lucky number, Daniels told Lottery officials.

"So, check this out," he started. "It was December 19th, the winning number was number 19, and the matching number was also 19. When I filled out the paperwork, it required a 19-digit number, and on the 19th of February, I received my check. So, number 19 is now my lucky number."

"Needless to say, I didn't get a nap that day," Daniels added with a laugh.

Daniels, a longtime lottery player since the California Lottery's inception 40 years ago, told Lottery staff that he plans on seeking professional assistance to help manage the $1 million win. He recalled an instance in 1986 when he had won $25 by uncovering "a gold nugget" on a ticket.

Now, there are two out of eight top prizes of $1 million left to win in the $10 "$100 Million Mega Cash" scratch-off game, as well as five out of 16 second-tier prizes of $20,000 and 26 out of 67 third-tier prizes of $10,000.

The overall odds of winning any prize in the game are 1 in 2.92.