A man in the East Bay who made a grocery stop for a friend ended up $1 million richer when he bought a Scratchers ticket on a whim, according to the California Lottery.
Reynaldo Phillips told lottery officials he stopped at San Pablo Supermarket on El Portal Drive in San Pablo to pick up some ingredients for his special spring rolls at the request of a friend. While there, he bought a Perfect Gift Scratchers ticket that turned out to be a $1 million jackpot winner.
Phillips said the supermarket was his final stop of the day.
"I happened to look at the California Lottery machine, and the holographic bow on the ticket stuck out," he said. "I’d never played that one. I put in $10 for one ticket. I get home and scratch it and see the bell symbol above and the number below it, and it says $1,000,000!"
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Phillips told lottery officials he plans to put some of the money into a classic car he’s been working on, and he plans to help his family as well.
He also had some words of advice about playing the lottery.
"Don’t chase it. Let it come to you," he said. "You can go broke doing that. How that day happened, it was meant to be. I feel like it was my time."
