Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Bartender finds $20, buys winning $1 million lottery ticket

SAN FRANCISCO — A San Francisco Bay Area man won $1 million in the California Lottery after buying a winning ticket with money he found at the airport.

The California Lottery said Sunday that Hubert Tang had not bought a lottery ticket in 10 years.

When he found a $20 bill on the street outside San Francisco International Airport last week, he used it to buy two scratch-off tickets at a market in Millbrae.

One of them led to the $1 million top prize.

He told the California Lottery that he was in shock when he won.

"I scratched the ticket outside of the store. I told my friend who I was with that I didn't know if it was real but, 'I think I just won a million dollars,'" Tang said in a statement. He wasn't immediately available for comment Monday.

Tang, who works as a bartender, plans to save the money for now. Lottery officials said the store will receive a $5,000 bonus for selling the winning ticket last Wednesday.

He also has a second chance to win up to $25,000 for the other ticket he purchased that was not a winner.

Tang says he may begin leaving $20 bills on the street in random places to spread his good fortune.

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