One California Lottery player is a millionaire after winning $1.7 million from a Mega Millions ticket purchased at a Ventura County-based doughnut shop in July, California Lottery officials announced.
Alfredo Espinoza Soto won $1,698,158 from a Mega Millions ticket purchased at Master’s Donuts in Oxnard. The ticket was one number short of the jackpot before it reached the $1 billion mark in August.
Soto recently came forward to claim the prize, according to lottery officials.
The donut shop has sold winning lottery tickets and games, including a scratcher worth $1 million.
“We sell a lot of tickets. We have a pretty long line when the jackpots are high,” Michelle Senna, owner of Master’s Donuts, told the California Lottery. “We sold a $1 million Scratchers ticket about ten years ago.”
The store got a $8,000 bonus for selling the winning Mega Millions ticket, a news release said.
The next Mega Millions drawing will be at 8 p.m. on Friday. Tickets start at $2 each and are sold in 45 states, the District of Columbia and the U.S. Virgin Islands. The current jackpot stands at $355 million.
For every Mega Millions ticket sold in California, about 80 cents will benefit public schools.