The California Lottery announced Tuesday that a Mega Millions player only realized he bought a winning ticket in Los Angeles County when he got a text from his coworker, asking if he wasn’t at work due to winning the lottery.
Officials said that the winner, Michael Chavez, had been more interested in the presidential race on Nov. 5, 2024, than the results of the drawing that night.
“I actually woke up in the middle of the night to check the election results to see who won for president, not Mega Millions,” said Chavez. “I went back to bed without looking at my ticket.”
According to the organization, Chavez bought a ticket at Lake Liquor, a store in Lakewood, and didn’t look at it until he got the following text from his coworker:
“He kidded me if the reason I wasn’t at work was because I had won the million,” Chavez told representatives with the California Lottery. “He even jokingly congratulated me.”
Sure enough, Chavez took a look at his ticket and saw that he was the one who matched five of the six winning numbers from that draw.
“I could not believe my eyes,” said Chavez,
Chavez said had it not been for his coworker’s text, he didn’t know how long it would have been before he realized he’d won $1,214,818.
In addition, officials said Lake Liquor collected a more than $6,000 bonus for selling the winning ticket.
