The unidentified man purchased the ticket from Sandy’s Deli-Liquor in San Luis Obispo. Samaan, who has worked at the store since 2013, said this is the first time someone has ever won a prize that large at the shop. Speaking with KSBY, store manager Wilson Samaan explained what happened. “He came to the store, he scratched it and is like: ‘Oh my god, is that real?’” Samaan said. “He’s like: ‘Man, I’m not homeless anymore!’ I’m like: ‘Man, you hit the jackpot.’” With the winner already in shock, Samaan broke it to the man that he’d actually won 10 times the amount he thought he’d won. Samaan explains that he thought he’d won $100,000. "He's like, '$100,000' and I'm like, 'No, bro. That’s $1 million. Congrats, brother,'" the manager recalled. In a video posted by a local business owner, the man announced: “I won a million dollars here in Slo at Sandy’s liquor store and yes, I just can’t wait to get off the streets.”

Samaan later drove the man, who doesn’t have a car, to Fresno so that he could turn in the ticket in person rather than mailing it. The man bought two $5 Triple Red 777 scratchers, plus a few smaller tickets, for a total of $25. According to the lottery, the odds of winning a $1 million prize on a Triple Red 777 scratcher are 1 in 2,047,423.