Calif. man claims $134M Mega Millions lottery jackpot

Comment #43

ThatScaryChick — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 05:43:08 GMT

Sorry, but anonymity among most states is just not going to happen. The states want to show that real people win the lottery. By printing peoples name and showing their photos and press conferences, they are showing that the average joe does win the lottery and that the lotteries are on the up and up.

Comment #42

RJOh — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 05:01:32 GMT

I will if I ever become one of the twelve or so yearly MM jackpot winners.

Comment #41

myturn — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 04:30:04 GMT

Congratulation to him. However, I still don't understand why winners are required to have their names released. There should be a law against it, please write to your Governor.

Comment #40

dpoly1 — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 15:07:12 GMT

Thank you so much ... I am already rich, because I have a great family ... I just need some extra money.

Lost my job in December '01 and became disabled in '08.

It would also be nice to help some other people that I know ...

But, I just take one day at a time ... best wishes to the gentleman from CA ... I hope that the predators don't get to him !

I already have three fine financial advisors

Comment #39

corius$1918! — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 05:08:51 GMT

I went to google and typed in mega million loterry winner, I saw the video. I pray he has some children or loved ones who will protect him and be good for him. He looks like someone people will be able to take advantage of. He needs to move asap. Does California require names to be released? I hate that mess, they only care about publicity not your life. '

God Speed for Mr dALKOS. I WOULD LOVE TO BE WRONG

Comment #38

psykomo — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 04:48:19 GMT

Calif. man is great (134M)$$$$$$$$$$

wow t'was dis a Quick Pick??????????

Mega Millions Lottery WINNER$$$

R GREAT !!!!!

what a POT of

CHANGE real CHANGE

Comment #37

rdgrnr — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 02:27:14 GMT

I hope you win dpoly1 and are able to go see your son.

Good luck to you.

Comment #36

time*treat — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 00:50:16 GMT

Given what passes for news these days, you won't be seeing any signs of shame for a while.

Comment #35

dopey7719 — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 00:24:14 GMT

I agree...that news station should be ashamed of itself! It's one thing to get a story...it's another to take advantage and pressure and elderly man for it.

Comment #34

maringoman — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 00:14:47 GMT

Not really. It depends on whether he had signed his ticket because if he had then the lottery

people would have not let just anybody cash it. And even if he had not, he would still have

been able to succesfully claim the winnings because most stores have cameras and the lottery

people can easily verify that he was the man who bought the winning ticket.

There was a story Bob Sehested of Camarillo, California (google him) bought 50 tickets when he turned 50 and hit for $500,000. I fo... [ More ]

Comment #33

ncpowerplayer — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 00:07:34 GMT

God bless Mr. Dalkos. I really hope for his sake he has some younger family members who can protect him and the ticket until it is redeemed.

Now, why is it that almost all jackpot winners buy quickpicks and wander back into the store they bought it from to check to see if it was a winner?

I think that the news station should have held that footage until he redeemed the ticket. Right now he is a sitting duck.

Comment #32

dpoly1 — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 23:38:33 GMT

I need to win on Saturday .... my son is going to perform at an amusement park on the other side of the country for the summer and we can't go see him.

Disability just doesn't go too far ... and the house is falling down too ... but good luck to all.

Comment #31

HaveABall — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 20:17:49 GMT

Are we a whimsical bunch of registered blog members or what?

Congratulations to this BIG, BIG jackpot winning sole ticket holder

Comment #30

Raven62 — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 19:01:52 GMT

Yeah! You could change Your Name to Jackpot Winner

Comment #29

JWBlue — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 18:44:28 GMT

I don't think it is unreasonable for a person to legally change their name after winning a jackpot.

Comment #28

drhymes74 — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 18:43:46 GMT

Actually, he walked into the store where he bought the ticket and the media was already there since the winning ticket was sold there. This was before he actually had to go to Santa Ana to claim at lottery offices.

He was on tv kind of wandering around and they were following him. He almost threw out the ticket.

I do sincerely hope for the best for this guy, but he's off to a bad start.

I'd even go as far as to grow a beard and get some disguise before going to claim. I hope... [ More ]

Comment #27

rooster8786 — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 16:44:20 GMT

So a man, who lottery officials claim is named John Dalkos, wins $134 million. He makes his claim and doesn't want any press, as evidenced by his declining to be interviewed, and now someone in the media is searching databases to find his address and show up at his door? This is EXACTLY why winners should be able to claim their prize annonymously!!!! When I win my millions, I'm going to hide so fast even my son can't find me.... until I'm ready that is

Comment #26

drhymes74 — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 16:18:02 GMT

As I said in my post, it appears that they interviewed his bank..on the KTLA news video. About 1 minute 54 sec into the video, they interview the bank employees across the street from the donut shop, who say it couldn't have happened to a nicer man... If he wasn't a customer, how would they know how nice he was? Since he frequents the donut shop near his home, it may be that he does his banking across the street. I don't know why the news would go across the street to interview the bank, they di... [ More ]

Comment #25

Raven62 — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 14:07:09 GMT

He didn't reveal his Identity: Other people did!

He didn't know he held the Winning Ticket until he used the Scanner!

Other people were there!

They revealed his Identity

Comment #24

barbos — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 05:06:32 GMT

Well I wouldn't worry about crooks knowing his location - that area of Long Beach between 7th street and Pacific Coast Highway is known as a crappy neighbourhood so he will most certainly relocate. The only stupid thing that guy did is releasing his identity - California allows anounymous claim but with money like that he can afford a privacy - even change his last name if nesessary.

Comment #23

CAL-LottoPlayer — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 02:03:42 GMT

It appears that they interviewed his bank.....which would make me very nervous if I were doing any banking business.

How do you know they interviewed his bank?

My state does requires that your name , city and winnings be public

Which state do you live in? Is it California

Comment #22

CAL-LottoPlayer — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 01:38:56 GMT

I am surprised the scanner didn't work. I have never had any problems with them. Perhaps the programming doesn't work when it actually finds a Mega Millions jackpot winner. Even though I do rely on them, I also look on the calottery website to see if anyone won the jackpot. If so, if it says my city, I would double-check my ticket anyway.

Comment #21

Dollar419 — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 00:25:03 GMT

I agree, those scanners are terrible--sometimes they don't work at all---thank god someone was nice enough to tell him to verify it at the SA Lottery Office to make it official...Glad he won and decided to stay out of the limelight...I mean at least we know his name and that he is the only winner--I'm just wondering what he will decide to do; take the cash payout--considering he is 70 years old...he had a lot to think about...

Comment #20

grave — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 23:56:09 GMT

Congrats to mr. dalkos ...... if i was his age i wouldnt lay low either i would get my money a.s.a.p..... no need to wait to collect his money because he might loose or forget that he even bought a ticket.... plus who knows he's been on this earth a long time..... now that he is about to get his winnings it's time to live everyday happy and like its your last......

Comment #19

dpoly1 — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 21:50:09 GMT

I need a win bad !

but good for anyone that wins tonight

Comment #18

JONNIE — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 20:26:39 GMT

rdgrnr-

You're right. Forgot how old he was. Congrats to him, even though he won, he almost lost

Comment #17

rdgrnr — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 20:11:03 GMT

He's in his 70's JONNIE. You start relying on other people a little more at that age and probably trusting them a little too much.

And he's from an era when there was a little more common decency and integrity then there is now.

Comment #16

joshuacloak — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 20:09:16 GMT

i did the google thing to find the video

, my god he looks real old, like he can die any day old

whatever traval dreams or whatever he wanted to do in hes long life, am sure they come true now

party it up and go out with a bang , so good for him

ofc this guy is taking the cash, he be nuts to take 25+ years of checks at hes age

unreal the media was their, the guy seemed super confused at first, or was playing dumb , maybe a bit of both

ether way, media got hes number , cat out o... [ More ]

Comment #15

JONNIE — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 19:58:56 GMT

he almost threw the ticket away??!!! Jeez man... I dont understand for the life of me why people rely on those stupid ticket scanners. It didnt even alert him that he won!! WTF??! Do people not have internet access or somthing or cant spend 50 cents on a newspaper to check the numbers

Comment #14

Taipanez — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 19:52:43 GMT

I hope that Mr. Dalkos gets the chance (and the time) to enjoy his winnings in whatever way he chooses, hopfully he has some kids or close friends that will let him stay at there place for a while or he finds a nice suite somewhere( San Diego sounds nice this time of year) till this all blows over.

Comment #13

sully16 — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 18:59:11 GMT

Comment #12

ThatScaryChick — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 17:58:57 GMT

Congrats to Mr. Dalkos on his win

Comment #11

drhymes74 — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 17:26:51 GMT

A couple of observations:

A quick pick

It appears that they interviewed his bank.....which would make me very nervous if I were doing any banking business.

It said he lives a few blocks from the Donut shop where the winning ticket was purchased, it is possible that he walks there...I would worry about being mugged.One could do a quick online telephone directory search, look up his name, number and address and bug the%^% ^^ out of him.

AS said before, he didn't lay low until after the... [ More ]

Comment #10

coolmoney — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 17:13:56 GMT

Now that is scary, if he threw that ticket away, he would kicking himself the rest of his life

Comment #9

cosmotravis — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 16:38:30 GMT

it amazes me how people think there is a curse with the lottery. dothe few negatives realize that there is a huge amount of peoplethat live positive and do great things with the money?

d poly, are you going to send them to bandcamp? lol we usedto have a heck of a band at Newton, IL when i was a teen. 98 percenthas to do with the teachers motivation. after she retired, the bandbecame so-so.

Comment #8

dpoly1 — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 16:10:43 GMT

I wish Mr. Dalkos the best ..... and yes the crooks will come out of the woodwork after seeing in the media that he can be easily confused !

I am happy that it is one person .... because that drives the people that think that they need to guide us thru life CRAZY!

Now I just need to be the ONLY winner tonite in the Powerball drawing .... this does not mean that the wealth will not be spread .... it will just be spread the way that I want it to be spread ... such as a High School Band in T... [ More ]

Comment #7

michimac — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 15:40:24 GMT

I'm actually glad for the guy that the press happened to be there cause i got the feeling from watching the news vid that the ladies behind the counter checking his ticket may have tried to tell him it was no winner kept it ! ? I'm surprised the States let the Lotto give the store that sold the ticket so much money ! You'd think they'd say heres a hundred bucs (for doing nothing basically) and keep the rest for themselve's ! (haha) ..and wow- i can't believe the state of CA doesn't collect sales... [ More ]

Comment #6

Starr920 — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 15:36:36 GMT

I watched the news report and I really pray that he has the wisdom to handle his new found wealth. The fact that he was ready to throw the ticket away because the scanner didn't read the ticket is a little scary. I wish him well but he's off to a very rocky start.

Comment #5

billyloco — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 14:58:34 GMT

This gentleman will more than likely do good with his winnings!! Too bad the stinking press cannot take ... NO ... for an answer!!

--(hitting the press....LOL

Comment #4

CowboysFan — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 14:34:47 GMT

Unfortunately Mr. Jackpot there is a face to the name. Go to google and type in long beach mega milion lotter winner. The KTLA news station was at the donut store interviewing the owners when the winner showed up to check is ticket. I hope this guy hires some people to help him out.

Comment #3

MrJackpot — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 14:26:03 GMT

Congrats to the winner but he has claimed all wrong. First of all he's elderly which I can see it now that he's going to be a target for the snakes, his name has been released, they have already basically gave his location of residence away, and he claimed early while the hype of this particular winning is still active. The only thing he did do right was to not give a conference but that only helped by not giving a face to a name, which will not help much with so much other info being released.... [ More ]

Comment #2

konane — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 13:50:46 GMT

Congratulations to him

Comment #1

rdgrnr — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 13:10:42 GMT

Thank God for the honest people in this article that helped this man.

I just hope he can handle the crooks that will be seeking him out now.

Calif. man claims $134M Mega Millions lottery jackpot

Lottery Post — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 12:54:07 GMT

The multimillion-dollar man has been found.

California Lottery officials Tuesday announced the name of a man, believed to be a Long Beach resident, who has won the $134 million Mega Millions jackpot.

The winner has been identified as John Dalkos. Officials said Dalkos showed up at the Santa Ana District office on Monday afternoon to claim his massive prize. Dalkos declined to be interviewed, they said.

His ticket with winning numbers 11, 34, 44, 31, 52 and Mega Ball number 32 was sold a... [ More ]