Four lucky Southern California residents recently scratched their way to small fortunes with California Lottery Scratcher games, lottery officials announced.
The biggest winner was Jose Garfias, who won $7 million from an Xtreme Crosswords Scratcher ticket sold at Sweet Time Donuts in Compton.
Douglas Colton won $5 million on a Year of Fortune Scratcher, which he bought at the Circle K on Brookside Avenue in Redlands.
Kuwa Harin won a $5 million prize on a California State Riches ticket purchased at Chevron on El Cajon Boulevard in San Diego.
Finally, Ali Awad recently won $1 million on a Merry Multiplier Scratchers ticket purchased at a 7-Eleven on San Diego Mission Road.
The California Lottery projects total sales revenue of more than $9 billion in the 2024-2025 fiscal year, $2.08 billion of which will go to public education. Those projections are slightly below the last fiscal year which featured 13 Powerball and Mega Millions drawings of $1 billion or more.
“Having this many jackpots at extraordinarily high levels is statistically improbable and triggered exponential sales growth; the California Lottery cannot assume the same luck in the next 12 months,” California Lottery officials said.
