More luck at Milpitas gas station, with $818,240 winner
Put away your four-leaf clovers, Bay Area may have it’s own lucky lotto spot — a Chevron station off Dixon Landing Road
MILPITAS » It wasn’t total deja vu of 2014 when someone won the $425 million jackpot at a Chevron station off Dixon Landing Road, but still, someone’s feeling like almost a million bucks after buying a PowerBall ticket at a South Bay lucky spot.
“He came in this morning with about $400 worth in tickets,” said manager Sween Jangra, who said the customer is a regular lottery player who he believes participates in an office pool. “He had me check them in the machine and the last one turned out to be the big winner.”
Jangra said the man “didn’t jump around or anything but was quite happy.”
According to the lottery officials, the prize for matching 5 numbers but not the Powerball is $818,240. But the store itself doesn’t score — vendor bonuses are reserved for when the prize money is a million or more.
But Jangra added that the second win bodes well for their lottery buying customers. Asked if he believes the station has a lucky picker machine he said “I think so, maybe.”
The store at 1551 California Circle, just off Dixon Landing
Road, garnered attention in February 2014 when a retiree walked in and picked up a sandwich at the attached Subway restaurant, then bought a Power Ball ticket that ended up being the big winner.
Jangra said it has since become a destination for people seeking to get struck by another bolt of lottery lightning, to the point where they have an additional worker on hand just to run the lottery machine when the jackpot grows to heights such as Wednesday night’s $759 million draw, won by a 53-yearold customer at a convenience store in Chicopee, Massachusetts.
Mavis Wanczyk, the mother of two adult children, quit her 30- year job at a hospital, saying she wants to relax. She said she used birthdays to choose some of the numbers. Massachusetts lottery officials say she chose to take a lump sum payment of $ 480 million, or $ 336 million after taxes.
Two other California retailers had five-ofsix number winners, including a Lucky store in Daly City. The other was a Ralph’s in Newport Beach.
Cal i fornia lot ter y spokeswoman Melissa Villarin said the additional win definitely raises the Milpitas Chevron on the list of lucky locations.
“Anytime a retailer sells a winning ticket people notice and go there more often,” she said. “And if a store sold one worth $425 million and then one for $ 800,000, wouldn’t you want to go there?”