The lucky winner of the $1.08 billion Powerball jackpot may have been spotted Thursday morning at the downtown Los Angeles store where the ticket was sold.
A woman wearing a black cap was seen darting from the store, hopping into a dark-colored BMW with tinted windows, and then driving away without speaking to reporters.
“She came in here and she screamed … She hugged people in the store and then she ran away,” said KTLA 5 News reporter Eric Spillman. “She claims that she has the winning Powerball jackpot ticket.”
California Lottery officials have not yet released the winner’s name, but they are required to do so eventually.
Wednesday’s winning ticket was sold at Las Palmitas Mini Market on Wall Street.
Nabor Herrera, the owner, was unaware that he had sold the jackpot ticket when he arrived to open for business early Thursday morning. He was immediately greeted by a crowd of reporters.
“It’s a surprise for me,” Nabor told KTLA. “I don’t know what it is, filming or what.”
He receives a bonus of $1 million from the California Lottery.
“When we see the cameras, I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, what’s going on outside?'” said Angelica Menjivar, co-owner of the mini-mart. “So that’s when we realized it was true.”
The California Lottery said its sole mission is to raise money for public schools. For every Powerball ticket sold, 80 cents will go towards public education.
“Thanks to this jackpot that grew for 39 different draws, the California Lottery raised nearly $80 million for public schools just from the last three months,” said Carolyn Becker, a California Lottery spokesperson.
Whoever the winner is, they are the second Los Angeles-area billionaire minted by the Powerball lottery within the past year.
In November, Edwin Castro purchased a record-breaking $2 billion ticket at a gas station convenience store in Altadena.