First-Time SACRAMENTO Player Wins $1 Million Prize

first-Time Player Wins $1 Million Prize


SACRAMENTO – Feeling the New Year would be lucky and having witnessed her husband playing Lottery games before, a Tustin woman decided the New Year’s Raffle was the right game for her.

As she explained to a Lottery employee by phone this afternoon, her “feeling” was right. “I would have never imagined this,” said the Tustin woman, who prefers to remain anonymous. “This was the first time I have ever purchased a Lottery ticket.”

The new winner said she bought her ticket in the neighboring city to the west, Santa Ana, at the Olmos Market on South Bristol Street. Then, she put the purchase out of her mind. That is, until today, when she decided she should check the winning numbers online. Of course, her ticket number matched the winning number for the last and final New Year’s Raffle grand prize of $1 million.

“My first reaction was to thank God, being that I was in disbelief,” said the California Lottery’s latest million-dollar winner. “Then I called my husband.” She thinks she might buy another house and a new car with her prize-money.

The New Year’s Raffle offered the best odds ever of any California Lottery game with a million-dollar prize up for grabs. The New Year’s Raffle guaranteed 555 winners. Five people took home $1 million each, 50 players received $10,000 each, and 500 players each won $2008.