The holiday season can be a fun, exciting and extremely busy time of year. Sometimes you might even be so busy that you don’t have the time to check the numbers on your Lottery tickets.
That was exactly the case for Jose Alvarez of Corona (Riverside County), who came into the Lottery’s Inland Empire District Office this morning to claim a Fantasy 5 top prize worth $209,218. He purchased his ticket more than a month ago for the December 6 draw, but only found out last week that he was a big winner.
He went to the retail location where he originally purchased his ticket – the 7-Eleven located at 725 East Grand Boulevard in Corona – and discovered that his ticket had matched all five numbers – 11, 31, 5, 4 and 18. “I didn’t know whether to cry or laugh,” Alvarez said when describing the moment he discovered he was a winner. “It was very exciting.”
Alvarez said he’s been playing Lottery games for 20 years and that he always uses family birthdays as the numbers he plays. At this point, his only plans for his winnings are to buy some MEGA Millions tickets.
