Brent Young hits the lottery after winning $10 million dollars from a scratcher game purchased at a Visalia gas station
VISALIA – Brent Young scratched out new possibilities for himself when he walked into his local gas station and left it as a multimillionaire.
As reported by the California State Lottery, Brent Young had a bit of trouble deciding which scratcher games to play with the more than two dozen games to pick from inside Prince Food & Gas in Visalia. After asking the store clerk which game he wanted to buy, he ended up walking out the door with $10 million.
“I was like just pick whichever one; I didn’t care,” Young said in a California Lottery press release.
According to the news release, the store’s clerk reached across the counter and chose the California 200X Scratcher for Young. After paying for his gas and the game, he started scratching. About halfway down, he saw a square with “$10,000,000” written in bold numbers, and realized uncovered the game’s top prize amount.
“When I saw all those zeros, I was like ‘no way, this doesn’t happen to people like me,’” Young said in the release. “It’s crazy. Out of all those options, the clerk could have picked a different game. But he didn’t. He grabbed a winner.”
Young said he shouldn’t even have been there in the first place, because as it turns out, the gas station where he usually fills up and buys lottery tickets was closed that day.
“It’s almost like God’s intervention. I didn’t have a specific ticket I was going to buy, so I let someone else decide,” he said. “I had no choice but to go to Prince’s. My usual stop was closed. If it had been open, none of this probably would have happened.”
Young decided to take the lump sum prize amount of $5.8 million – less federal taxes that way. Prince Food & Liquor won as well, according to the release, as the owner is collecting a $50,000 bonus for selling that winning ticket. Not only that, but Young isn’t the only California Lottery player to score big – according to California Lottery, “six additional scratcher winners also joined the CA lottery millionaires club.”
According to the announcement, Felix Arambula struck it rich on a “$1,000,000 Cloud 9” scratcher. It was sold at Shop N Go in Kingsburg (Fresno County).
Daryl Knighten won $2 million playing an “Instant Prize Crossword” scratcher game. He bought his lucky ticket at the Stage Shop III Chevron station on Highway 3 in Fort Jones (Siskiyou County).
Marco Matiasic won the top prize of $1 million playing a “Show Me $1,000,000” game that was purchased at Speedy Spot in San Bruno (San Mateo County).
Reyna Gomez also became an instant millionaire playing a “Show Me $1,000,000” game. That one was purchased at Campus Plaza Shell in Moorpark (Ventura County).
Guillermina Perez won the top prize on a “$1,000,000 California Road Trip Riches” game that was purchased at World Donuts & Ice Cream in Pomona (Los Angeles County).
Jaime Medrano also hit it big on a “$1,000,000 Cloud 9” scratcher. He bought his lucky game at a Vons in Lakewood (Los Angeles County).
The California Lottery’s mission, according to the release, is to provide supplemental funding to California public schools, including kindergarten and grades one through 12, community colleges, the California State University, the University of California and other California public educational entities.
The funds the Lottery transferred to public education totaled more than $2.07 billion for fiscal year 2021-22, which amounted to a modest percentage of education’s overall budget.
However, this funding is largely discretionary, meaning schools can use this for important, yet unfunded instructional programs they would otherwise not afford. During the same period, the Lottery generated more than $8.85 billion in sales, more than 95% of which went back to the community in the form of prize payments, retailer commissions and bonuses, and contributions to education.
If you feel you have a gambling problem, or know someone who does, you can get free confidential help by calling the California Problem Gambling Helpline at 1- 800-GAMBLER.