Group of five buys winning lottery ticket

Five people who stopped at a San Jose café at the end of 2020 are millions of dollars richer as a result.

The quintet bought a winning $18 million SuperLotto Plus ticket, according to California Lottery officials, and took the cash option, which left them with $13.6 million. The five — identified by lottery officials as Michael Zhang, Ronnie Lau, Samuel Lee, Duc Luu and Hui Leung — each got $2.72 million before taxes.

“We usually all buy tickets together,” Zhang said in a statement released by lottery officials.

After stopping at Café Paradise in the 2400 block of Monterey Road on Dec. 26, they bought 50 tickets — 20 Powerball, 20 Mega Millions and 10 SuperLotto Plus.

The group found out they’d won later that night, when one of the members scanned the ticket on an app. They did not come forward immediately, citing the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We decided to hold off until the restrictions were lifted,” Zhang said.

Once they were, the group took a trip to Sacramento and dropped off the ticket in a drop box. They were then contacted by lottery officials.

Zhang said none of the five has decided what to do yet with the winnings.