A formerly homeless man won a life-changing sum earlier this year while playing a California Lottery scratchers game he’d purchased on the Central Coast.
Armando Vidal was a Bay Area resident who had fallen on hard times after an injury left him unemployed and homeless in 2008. He moved from the Santa Clara area to the Central Coast to start over and would make occasional stops at a San Luis Obispo deli to purchase a lottery ticket.
This past April, he bought two Triple Red 777 Scratchers at Sandy’s Deli & Liquor and it proved to be the most consequential purchase of his life.
He scratched one of the tickets and was shocked to see it was a $200 winner. Still in slight disbelief, he took it back to Sandy’s for a retailer to scan. It turns out, his assumption was off.
“Even after scanning the ticket, he thought he’d only won $100,000. It wasn’t until Vidal was chatting and high-fiving with the store manager, Wilson Samaan, that Samaan asked, ‘What are you going to do with a million dollars?’ the California Lottery wrote in a news release issued Monday as part of the kickoff to National Lottery Week.
Vidal, again, was in disbelief.
“I was like, ‘huh?’” he told lottery officials. “And that’s how I found out that I’d won a million dollars.”
For a lotto win that big, players need to bring their winning ticket to an official California Lottery office to claim their prize.
So, with Samaan offering to drive, the two headed to the nearest California Lottery office in Fresno to accept his winnings.
“Now, Armando Vidal is working to secure a place to go home to, with a bed, a couple of dogs, and he also plans invest his winnings to keep the money coming in,” the Lottery wrote.
His story went viral in April, moments after he’d discovered he’d won the life-changing jackpot. Now Vidal says he plans on keeping a much lower profile in the future.
Monday is the first day of National Lottery Week, and the California Lottery is celebrating its 40th anniversary with a slew of events, including the California State Fair and the Orange County Fair.
Those interested in learning about who benefits from California Lottery play can find more information here.