(AUSTIN) – The Mendez Brothers Partnership, Lorenzo Mendez, partner, of El Paso today collected a Mega Millions® prize of $1 million. That’s the happy ending of today’s trip to Texas Lottery® headquarters in Austin that began on March 4, the day of the drawing.
Lorenzo Mendez of El Paso was feeling dejected after officials from a $50,000 singing competition in Puerto Rico he had entered disqualified him for having already recorded a CD of mariachi standards.
“My dad saw me feeling down and told me not to feel bad, that things happen for a reason and that everything would work out for me,” Mendez said. “Then he said, ‘let me buy you a Mega Millions ticket,’ and so I picked my numbers and that was that.”
The elder Mendez went to his usual retail outlet, an Albertson’s Grocery store, to buy one Mega Millions ticket each for his wife, his seven children and himself.
“The next day I was driving along when my dad called me. He told me to pull over and then said he thought my ticket had won a prize,” Mendez said. “Then I remembered that my dad really likes to play practical jokes on people, so I wasn’t quite sure what was going on.”
Mendez and his dad figured out that the Mega Millions ticket he held did indeed have five of the numbers drawn for the previous night’s drawing.
“Then we had to figure out how to tell my mother, because she gets really excited about things,” he said. “We started out very carefully.”
He and his father first told Mrs. Mendez that they thought they’d won $50,000, a figure that flabbergasted her. Then, they moved on to $250,000, which further flustered her. By the time they got to the $1 million amount, Mrs. Mendez was speechless.
“She couldn’t say anything,” the younger Mendez said. “I know she didn’t believe us, but we had the ticket and when we got on the Internet and she saw the numbers, it became real.”
Mrs. Paula Mendez accompanied her son to Lottery headquarters.
In the days and weeks that followed, Mendez and his family considered many different plans regarding how to spend the prize money.
“It was really exciting right after we learned our ticket had this prize, we kept thinking of one thing and another,” he said. “But, after talking to an attorney and letting some time pass, we’ve settled down and we know what we’re going to do. We’re going to buy my parents a house, invest some of the money and use another part of it to help promote my singing career.”
Mendez is no stranger to the bright lights. He’s been a stage performer since the age of seven, and has already been a featured singer on Sábado Gigante, Escándalo TV, Buenos Días con María Antonieta Collins and El Gordo y La Flaca. He’s also performed all across the US and Mexico, as well as with numerous internationally-known singers.
“Looking after your parents is one of the best things you can do with a Lottery prize,” said Texas Lottery Commission Executive Director Anthony J. Sadberry. “Mr. Mendez, as the partner of the Mendez Brothers Partnership, clearly has his priorities straight. We wish him all the best in his musical career.”
The elder Mendez purchased the ticket at the Albertson’s #993, 9111 Dyer Street, in El Paso.
The numbers drawn that night were 7 – 15 – 30 – 33 – 56, and the Mega Ball was 22. The Megaplier® was four, which multiplied Mendez’s $250,000 prize to $1 million. The younger Mendez selected the numbers on his ticket.
There is another Mega Millions ticket worth $1 million that was also sold in El Paso for that night’s drawing. The store is the Cash It Here #5, 9155 Dyer, Suite A.
Tonight’s Mega Millions jackpot is worth an estimated $113 million. Saturday’s Lotto Texas® jackpot is worth an estimated $13 million.
