"I'm not homeless anymore!" — Lottery prize changes life overnight

Includes video report

By Kate Northrop

SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. — A homeless man in California will be able to afford a place of his own after winning a "life-changing" $1 million prize on a scratch-off ticket.

"Man, I'm not homeless anymore!" an unidentified California man exclaimed after hitting the jackpot on a $1 million winning lottery ticket.

The winner, who has not been publicly identified, gave a local business owner permission to post a video of him sharing his story on social media, in which he proudly held up a scanned copy of his $10 "Triple Red 777" ticket.

"My friend here just won the lottery for a million dollars in SLO [San Luis Obispo]," Thrifty Beaches owner Adam Kemp said in his video. "Are you comfortable with saying that, like, being posted?"

"Sure," the man replied, waving to digital viewers. "I won a million dollars here in SLO at Sandy's Liquor Store, and, yes, I just can't wait to get off the streets."

Kemp said in his caption that the man and his wife have been homeless for a long time, and that the pair had always been nice.

"I'm so happy for the both of them!" Kemp wrote. "You never know when it's your day to win big in life!"

The retailer that sold the winning ticket, Sandy's Deli-Liquor on Higuera Street in San Luis Obispo, confirmed with reporters that the man did indeed win the million-dollar prize at the store.

"That's the winning ticket up there, he match[ed] one number, and the prize was $1 million," Sandy's Liquor Manager Wilson Samaan told KSBY. Decked out in California Lottery gear, including a t-shirt that said, "Millionaire Made Here," he pointed to a copy of the winning ticket posted above the cash register.

Samaan has worked at Sandy's Liquor since 2013, but this is the first time someone has ever won this big in the lottery, lauding the winner as a longtime customer. He said it meant a lot that a loyal, regular customer won such a big prize at his store.

"He came to the store, he scratched it and is like, 'Oh, my god. Is that real? Wilson, can you come and take a look'?" Samaan recalled in a TV interview. "I'm like, 'Let me see,' so I grabbed the ticket out of his hand, I went to the machine over there. He's like, 'Man, I'm not homeless anymore!' I'm like, 'Man, you hit the jackpot.' He's like, '$100,000' and I'm like, 'No, bro. That's a million dollars. That's a million-dollar ticket. Congrats brother,' so, and we gave each other a high five."

Samaan did more than give the winner a high-five – he was kind enough to drive him to a California Lottery District Office to claim the prize.

"I drove him to Fresno I think the next day, or Wednesday, because he's like, 'Do I want to send it in the mail?' And I told him, 'That's a million-dollar ticket. No, I will drive you there'," Samaan said to KSBY.

The California Lottery has yet to confirm the identity of the winner since the verification process for big wins can take anywhere from weeks to months.

"With a million-dollar ticket like this, the person who comes forward can expect a very thorough vetting process," Lottery Deputy Director of Public Affairs & Communications Carolyn Becker said in a video interview with reporters. "As you can imagine, we give away a lot of prize money at the California Lottery, and we are happy to do it, but we want to make sure we are giving it to the right person."

Part of the verification process includes an interview by law enforcement, which validates simple facts like when and where the ticket was purchased and how it came to be in the winner's possession, Becker had told Lottery Post in an interview regarding $1.08 billion Powerball winner Yanira Alvarez.

It also involves the State Controller's office identifying any possible owed debts, taxes, or child support, which would be deducted from the winner's total take-home before the prize is paid out.

The California Lottery processes over 10,000 claims a month through the Sacramento headquarters building, Becker said, and it typically takes between six and eight weeks from the date the claim was submitted to process it.

While the unidentified winner of the $1 million prize declined to be interviewed by KSBY on camera, he relayed that he is excited to put a down-payment on a home, buy a car, invest, and save the remainder.

The odds of winning the top prize in the $10 "Triple Red 777" scratch-off game are 1 in 2,047,423, while the odds of winning any prize in the game are 1 in 2.92.

VIDEO: See the lucky winner

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VIDEO: Watch the report

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