$134 million MEGA Millions winner claims his prize
Wednesday, March 10, 2010 posted 09:57 AM EST
LONG BEACH - The multimillion-dollar man has been found.
California Lottery officials Tuesday announced the name of a man, believed to be a Long Beach resident, who has won the $134 million Mega Millions jackpot.
The winner has been identified as John Dalkos. Officials said Dalkos showed up at the Santa Ana District office on Monday afternoon to claim his massive prize. Dalkos declined to be interviewed, they said.
His ticket - with winning numbers 11, 34, 44, 31, 52 and Mega number 32 - was sold at Country Donuts at the corner of East Anaheim Street and Obispo Avenue.
Country Donuts owner Kevin Thai gets a bonus of $670,000, roughly half of one percent of the total, because his store sold the winning ticket.
Thai said Dalkos, who is in his 70s, is a regular customer at Country Donuts.
He said a confused-looking Dalkos came into the store on Monday with the winning lottery ticket and tried to use one of the Mega Millions scanners to determine if the ticket was a winner. The scanner, however, came up blank, Thai said.
Dalkos was ready to throw the ticket away when another customer stopped him, he said. Thai said he gave Dalkos the contact information for the district office in Santa Ana.
Records show that a John Dalkos lives in Long Beach just a few blocks from Country Donuts. No one answered the door Tuesday when the Press-Telegram visited the home.
Officials said Dalkos has 60 days to decide if he wants the annuity or cash option. The cash option for the ticket is worth $82.9 million.
Friday's jackpot was originally announced as $133 million, but strong ticket sales pushed the prize up to $134 million, officials said.
Including Dalkos' ticket, a total of 12 Mega Millions jackpots have been won in California, including a $315 million jackpot in 2005, the largest in California history. Friday's win is the third-largest Mega Millions win for California since the state joined the game in 2005.
Mega Millions, the country's largest lottery, includes 35 states and the District of Columbia. The odds of winning a jackpot are 1 in 176 million. Players pick five numbers from 1 to 56 plus a Mega number from 1 to 46.
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