A whirlwind road trip to see country music star Zach Bryan in concert ended on an even higher note for a Southern California mother and her son thanks to a winning California Lottery Scratcher ticket.
Danielle Magalen and AJ Tamraz of Laguna Niguel drove 430 miles to Sacramento on Saturday to see Bryan perform at Golden 1 Center that night as a birthday gift to AJ, who turned 18 in October.
AJ says it was a great show – but a very quick turnaround. On Sunday, they were driving back home on the 5 Freeway when they encountered heavy traffic through the Central Valley.
“We both had to use the restroom, so we stopped at a Love’s truck stop in this small town, Santa Nella,” AJ told KTLA.
They planned to use the facilities, buy a couple of bottles of water, and then quickly get back on the road as they still had a long drive ahead.
Playing the lottery wasn’t originally on their minds. That was until Danielle noticed a new holiday-themed Peppermint Payout Scratcher ticket.
“She comes back out the car and gives me a $20 bill, so I walk back in and go to the vending machine,” AJ recounted.
After punching the button for four tickets, he returned to the car to test their luck.
Mom’s tickets were both losers. So was AJ’s first one. But as he started scratching the fourth ticket, he saw a payout that matched his winning number three.
“First, I scratched away and saw the number 50, then it became $250, and I got excited,” AJ said. “Then I saw a comma and even more zeroes.”
AJ, who couldn’t legally buy a lottery ticket two months ago, won a prize of $250,000.
“Mom starts crying. I’m in shock,” he recalled. “Like, what did I just do?”
AJ and Danielle made it home safely that night – a 14-hour slog in heavy holiday traffic. On Monday, they visited the California Lottery district office in Costa Mesa, where AJ was awarded an oversized ceremonial check for the winnings.
He expects to net $170,000 to $190,000 after taxes and says he plans to use the money to pay off his mother’s car loan, credit card debt and six months’ rent.
“She gets to breathe, and I get to help her. It’s something I’ve always dreamed of,” AJ told KTLA.
It typically takes several weeks for the California Lottery to verify any prize winner’s claim, so lottery officials could not independently confirm the winning ticket.
