An Inland Empire man became a multi-millionaire while honoring his wife’s request for some relief and taking his toddler out for breakfast, California Lottery officials said.
During his morning stroll, Eugene Brown stopped by the ARCO ampm on the corner of Newport and Menifee Road in Menifee to pick up two Maximum Millions Scratchers.
Brown said he regularly picks up scratchers as part of his regular entertainment, but today it happened to line up with his wife’s need for some downtime.
“If she hadn’t asked me to go out, I might not have gone to the store,” Brown said. “Or I would’ve gone later, and somebody else would’ve gotten the ticket. But everything lined up in the universe.”
When Brown, a known prankster, showed his wife the lucky ticket, she was unmoved. “Could you please take the garbage out? I’m not in the mood right now,” Mrs. Brown said.
“No, I’m serious,” Eugene replied. “We won $5 million!”
“You’d better not be lying,” his wife said.
But Brown, who once told his wife that one of her favorite singers had passed and then recorded her reaction, delivered on this “mommy time” walk, Lottery officials said. The couple had won the Maximum Millions top prize.
“I’m not lucky. I’m blessed,” he said. “I’m going to invest my winnings, pay off my house, and put it all in a trust to work on creating some generational wealth for my children.”