Redondo Beach store sells winning lotto ticket
The modest counter at T & S Mini Mart will likely be getting an upgrade. The store won $16,250 for selling a top winning scratch ticket.
Picking up a scratch ticket at the gas station was pretty habitual for Jeovany Gomez. Winning was not. But all that changed on Tuesday when he bought a five dollar “Lucky for Life” Scratchers ticket at the T & S Gasoline Mini Mart in Redondo and uncovered the top prize: $2500 per week for 25 years.
“I’ve been playing the lottery for nine years,” said Gomez. “I never thought I would win.”
Gomez, a former construction worker in Los Angeles Country, now has to decide if he wants to collect a lump sum of $1.9 million or take the weekly payments that will add up to $3.25 million over the 25 years. Whichever choice he makes, his life is going to be much different from now on.
Gomez is not interested in much press but did share that he plans on using the money to support his family and invest in his children’s futures.
The T & S Gasoline Mini Mart, which is located at 3601 Inglewood Avenue in Redondo, got lucky, too. By selling Gomez the winning ticket, the store automatically won a $16,250 prize.
Santos, an employee at the T & S store who declined to give his last name, didn’t know his store sold the winning ticket until the California Lottery computer system behind his counter alerted him.
“I thought it said $325,000,” Santos said. “I can’t believe he won $3 million.”
The odds of winning the top prize on the five dollar “Lucky for Life” card are one in 2.4 million. But this shouldn’t dissuade hopeful scratchers. There are a total of 17 top winner cards in the “Lucky for Life” five dollar series. Lopez was the thirteenth, leaving four more multi-million dollar winners out there.