4 Southern Californians get rich with scratch cards

Scratch card for the lottery (Getty Images)

Four lucky Southern California residents recently won a small fortune playing California Lottery scratch-off tickets, the lottery authority said.

The biggest winner was Jose Garfias, who won $7 million on an Xtreme Crosswords scratch-off ticket sold at Sweet Time Donuts in Compton.

Douglas Colton won $5 million on a Year of Fortune scratch-off ticket purchased at the Circle K on Brookside Avenue in Redlands.

Kuwa Harin won a $5 million prize with a California State Riches ticket purchased at Chevron on El Cajon Boulevard in San Diego.

Finally, Ali Awad recently won $1 million on a Merry Multiplier Scratchers ticket purchased at 7-Eleven on San Diego Mission Road.

The California Lottery expects total revenues to exceed $9 billion for the 2024-2025 fiscal year, with $2.08 billion of that going to public education. These projections are slightly lower than last fiscal year, which featured 13 Powerball and Mega Millions drawings with total prizes of $1 billion or more.

“The fact that so many jackpots are at an exceptionally high level is statistically improbable and has triggered exponential growth in revenue. The California Lottery cannot expect the same level of luck in the next 12 months,” California Lottery officials said.