Lady Luck smiles on Modesto – twice

A Modesto man identified so far only as “Tony” has won $10 million off a $30 scratcher in the California Lottery.

The winning ticket was bought by a regular customer at Fast Mart on Coffee Road in north Modesto, from store co-manager Lakhvir Singh, known since childhood as “Lucky.”

Tony’s is the second $10 million ticket found so far out of four printed in the California Lottery’s 30th Anniversary scratcher game, said Paulina Ishaya, district sales representative for the lottery. The other ticket, believe it or not, was also sold in Modesto.

Friends Gerald Lillard and Ali Muthana split the $30 cost of the ticket in September while waiting to buy gas at the Stop N Save Liquor and Groceries on Yosemite Boulevard.

The odds of winning a $10 million ticket in that game are calculated as one in 3,003,698.

“There’s only four of them. I can’t believe the first two were sold in Modesto – not in Los Angeles, not in San Francisco, not in San Jose, but here in Modesto, which is mind-blowing,” Ishaya said Wednesday in announcing the win.

“Lightning has definitely struck twice in Modesto,” she said as she helped unfold “Millionaire Made Here” lottery banners at the store.

But while Ishaya moved ahead with the banners, signs and stickers to proclaim the Fast Mart ticket win, California Lottery headquarters was not yet ready to pronounce it a done deal.

“We have to verify that it is a winning ticket,” said Greg Parashak, lottery information officer. The process can include watching video footage from the store to be sure the same man bought the ticket and anti-fraud checks on the ticket itself, he said. Parashak expects confirmation early next week, with winnings distributed six to eight weeks later.

But Lucky and Jasbir Singh, brothers who co-manage the Fast Mart Store owned by their father, Shamsher Singh, remember the Nov. 14 sale.

The man they know as Tony stops by every morning and buys snacks, drinks and a few tickets, often turning over chunks of lottery winnings to buy more tickets. “Out of his pocket it’s not that much,” said Lucky Singh.

After scratching off the winning number, Tony took his ticket up to the counter and had the brothers count the zeros with him. Jasbir Singh said, “It was a lot of zeros.”

Fast Mart, already designated a lucky retailer because of its number of winning tickets, will get a $50,000 bonus for selling the $10 million scratcher. The north Modesto store has $40,000 to $50,000 a month in California Lottery game sales, Lucky Singh estimated.

The two $10 million Modesto wins join the $5 million that Jennifer Daniel won from an Ultimate Riches scratcher after stopping in to use the bathroom at the CVS store in Modesto in June.

“Modesto is a lucky town,” said Jasbir Singh.

This story was originally published November 26, 2015 at 9:52 AM with the headline "Lady Luck smiles on Modesto – twice."