It was the night of the presidential election, and the results were slow in arriving. The contest weighed on Michael Chavez’s mind so much that it interrupted his sleep.
“I actually woke up in the middle of the night to check the election results to see who won for president,” Chavez said, according to the California Lottery.
Instead of the presidential ticket, he should have been focused on his lottery ticket.
But Chavez didn’t check what the winning lottery numbers were until the morning, when he received a humorous text from a co-worker. Chavez said he had forgotten to tell staff that he wouldn’t be at work. The employee sent a screenshot of the Mega Millions results and the location in Lakewood where a winning ticket was sold. “Is that why you not here yet boss lol,” the text read.
Chavez matched five out of six numbers in the Nov. 5, 2024, draw.
“I could not believe my eyes,” he said. “I’ll never forget election night or especially that text.”
He bought his ticket, worth more than $1.2 million, from Lake Liquor in Lakewood, which will receive $6,000 for selling Chavez his ticket.
In April, the price of a Mega Millions ticket is set to rise from $2 to $5. It will also become — ever so slightly — easier to win. The odds of winning, according to a lottery official, will go from 1 in 302.6 million to around those for winning at Powerball, which are 1 in 292.2 million.
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