Winning Mega Millions Ticket Sold In Riverside County
CALIMESA (CBSLA.com) — Lottery officials said a Mega Millions jackpot ticket sold in Riverside County is worth $180 million.
The winning ticket matched all six numbers in Friday night's draw. They were 5-31-34-41-74 and Mega number 3.
The ticket was purchased at a 7-Eleven convenience store, located at the corner of County Line Road and 3rd Street, in Calimesa.
KCAL9's Joy Benedict spoke to Monira Begum on Saturday, who has owned the convenience store with her husband for 12-years.
"We've been working hard all these years," said Begum. "Every ticket I sell to a customer, I'm hoping 'this one is the winner'."
According to lottery officials, Begum is also a winner, as retailers receive a percentage of the lottery winnings.
"The retailer gets half a percentage of the winnings, which in this case is $900,000," said Cathy Baker of the California Lottery.
Officials said that Begum will split her earnings with 7-Eleven and an additional amount will be taken out in taxes.
Out of the goodness of her heart, Begum said that she will share a part of her earnings with the employee who sold the lottery ticket at her store.
"They do hard work for me, so of course I wanna share this happy moment," Begum said.
Regular customers shared excitement and said that this store is lucky, which is why many were seen purchasing tickets throughout Saturday.
Lottery player, Rachel Simo, was instructed by her husband to purchase 20 lottery tickets first thing this morning after hearing the news Friday evening.
"He was like, 'go get some tickets because $15 million is still a lot of money'," said Simo.
Begum received the call from lottery officials Friday night regarding information about the winning lottery ticket sold at her store.
At this time, she is unsure exactly how much money she will receive.
If the winner chooses to take their prize as a lump sum, they will receive a $107 million payout, lottery officials said.
Mega Millions is played in California and 41 other states as well as the District of Columbia and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
