A lucky lottery player in California recently found out he had won over $1 million on a Mega Millions ticket—only after a coworker alerted him.
Michael Chavez, from Lakewood, said he didn’t check his ticket right away. “I actually woke up in the middle of the night to check election results, not Mega Millions,” he told KTLA. “I went back to bed without looking at my ticket.”
Chavez had bought the ticket at Lake Liquor, but only realized he had won after receiving a text from a coworker joking if he had skipped work because of the million-dollar prize.
The winning numbers for the November 5 draw were 2-24-25-52-58, with a Megaplier of 9.
The liquor store that sold the winning ticket will receive a bonus of over $6,000.
California Lottery advises that prizes of $600 or more can be claimed fastest at a Lottery District Office, which operate weekdays from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. with no appointment needed.
Currently, Mega Millions tickets cost $2 per play, but prices will rise to $5 in April. Lottery officials say the increase will help create bigger jackpots and more frequent wins. So far, California is the only state set to raise ticket prices by $3.
Players select five numbers from 1 to 70 and one gold Mega Ball from 1 to 25. Matching all six numbers wins the jackpot, with odds of 1 in 302,575,350.
There are nine prize tiers, starting from the jackpot down to $2.
The Megaplier option, costing an extra $1 per play, can multiply non-jackpot prizes by 2, 3, 4, or 5 times. Before each Tuesday and Friday drawing, a Megaplier ball is drawn from a pool with varied multipliers.
Meanwhile, players are reminded to check their tickets as a $2 million Mega Millions prize is still unclaimed. Additionally, a multi-million Powerball prize remains unclaimed, with the winning ticket sold at a chain store.
