Winning Lottery Ticket Worth $27 Million Purchased at Mickey’s Deli
The Mickey’s Deli’s crew celebrating Sunday morning, after having sold a $27 million lotto ticket. (Left to right) Gonzalo Diaz, Oarra Totonichi, Paul Mance, Mickey Mance and August Amaya. Photo
Paul Mance was home Saturday evening when Gonzalo Diaz called and told him, “Someone we sold a lotto ticket to just won $27 million. Look at your ticket.”
Diaz works at Mickey’s Deli, which Mance owns, and had sold Mance a leftover Super Lotto Plus ticket that afternoon.
Diaz had gotten news of the winning ticket from another Mickey’s employee, Augusto Arraya, who had gotten the news from his brother-in-law, who had seen it on NBC News.
“I thought it was a prank,” Mance said. “So I put the phone down and looked on the internet. It said the ticket was purchased at Mickey’s Deli, 101 Hermosa Ave. Then I looked at my ticket. I didn’t have the winning ticket.”
Later that evening, Mance received a call from a California Lotto representative. “He said to me, ‘Hey dude, meet me at your story tomorrow morning. I need to bring you some Millionaire Made Here signs.’ That’s when I knew it was real,” Mance said.
Mickey’s Deli with Millionaire Made Here signs put up by the California Lottery Sunday morning. Photo
As of Sunday noon the winning ticket purchaser remained unknown. The ticket could have been purchased any time between Wednesday and Saturday evening. The crew at Mickey’s is hoping it is the older couple Diaz sold tickets to early Saturday. “They come in every Saturday, like clockwork,” Dias said. “They spend $20 — $6 on Super tickets, $6 on Mega tickets and $8 on Powerball. When the man paid me, he said, ‘I’m feeling lucky.’”
For selling the winning ticket, Mickey’s Deli will receive one-half of one percent of $27 million, which equals $135,000.
“I’m going to use the money to make Mickey’s even better,” said Mance, whose dad opened the Hermosa landmark in 1953.
The winning ticket numbers are 37, 25, 47, 3, 4 and Mega number 11. The ticket holder will receive $16.8 million after taxes if the money is taken in a lump sum, or $27 million spread out over 30 years, according to a California Lottery press release. ER