A $2,000 win on the slots? That’s a good night. A five-figure take playing blackjack at the casino a few days later? Very nice. It’s the kind of winning streak that leads to quips about needing to buy a lottery ticket.
East County resident Brad Bullock was in the middle of such a streak when he did happen to buy lottery tickets. The morning after his slots win at a local casino, he stopped by a Santee 7-Eleven to grab a little caffeine and a couple of California Lottery scratchers, the $30 high-payout ones.
He headed home, forgot about the tickets and turned on the TV.
A bit later, the 33-year-old remembered the tickets. Usually, he said, he scratches off the numbers one by one, the way it’s meant to be played. But this was a lazy day, and he was kind of watching a show so he skipped scratching off numbers. Instead, he simply scratched off the coating over the barcode at the bottom of the ticket, then scanned it with the California Lottery app on his phone. And there it was.
“You have won $10 million.”
“Oh, I sat up real quick,” Bullock said. “I grabbed a quarter and started scratching like crazy.”
As the coating on the Royal Riches ticket came off, the numbers revealed what the app had already confirmed. He hit the jackpot.
It was the Fourth of July and the lottery offices were closed. “I canceled all my plans and didn’t leave the house,” Bullock said. The only person he told about the ticket was his mom. The next morning, he was at the local lottery office “before it even opened.”
Bullock’s millionaire win, announced by lottery officials this week, is one of several in recent months, including a $1 million winner who bought a Power 10’s Scratchers game from 7-Eleven on East Grand Avenue in Escondido.
Bullock bought his winning ticket from a 7-Eleven on Prospect Avenue in Santee. The day after his win, the streak wasn’t over. He was back at the casino with his buddy when they won $29,000 between them, roughly a third of it was Bullock’s take.
As for his lottery win, Bullock decided to take the lump-sum cash payout of $5.8 million. He’s a lineman, back at his job working on powerlines now, debts paid, the big money tucked smartly away. No quitting his job. No big trips.
OK, there was one splurge: traded in his old pickup for a new one.
“That,” he said, “was my celebration present.”
Originally Published: October 4, 2024 at 4:23 p.m.