Calif. man buys scratch game with $20 bill he found, wins $1 million

Aug 31, 2015, 9:15 am (21 comments)

California Lottery

MILLBRAE, Calif. — A man who won $1 million from the California Lottery on Wednesday in Millbrae paid for the winning Scratcher ticket using a $20 bill he found on the ground.

The lucky Bay Area man, Hubert Tang, found the $20 bill on a street outside of San Francisco International Airport on Wednesday. He then used it to purchase two $1,000,000 Jackpot! Scratchers tickets from Andrea's Market, located at 1601 El Camino Real in Millbrae.

Tang, who works as a bartender, said that he had not purchased a lottery ticket in 10 years.

"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.

Tang was in shock when he won and is still unsure about what he is going to do with his winnings.

"I haven't really thought about what I am going to do with the money. For now I am just going to put it in savings," Tang said.

"Maybe I'll start leaving $20 bills on the street in random places," he said jokingly.

Andrea's Market, where he bought the ticket, wins as well, as it receives a $5,000 bonus just for selling the winning ticket.

News story photo(Click to display full-size in gallery)

Thanks to Sandia and Steve for the tip.

KRON, Lottery Post Staff

Comments

music*'s avatarmusic*

Congratulations to you , Hubert Tang.    El Camino Real is Spanish for ,"The Kings Way". This road connected the Roman Catholic Missions in California.  US Flag

Gleno's avatarGleno

Now  that's being struck twice with a streak of good  luck!

Congrats to the winner.

Lep

mypiemaster's avatarmypiemaster

The more I read this story, the more it appears that Mr Tang had his tang spiked. Maybe a whale jumped out from the bay and a $20 bill fell out of the whale's pocket. People and their fish stories. Whatever happened to I bought a ticket and I won. BS

rcbbuckeye's avatarrcbbuckeye

Quote: Originally posted by mypiemaster on Aug 31, 2015

The more I read this story, the more it appears that Mr Tang had his tang spiked. Maybe a whale jumped out from the bay and a $20 bill fell out of the whale's pocket. People and their fish stories. Whatever happened to I bought a ticket and I won. BS

Why do you think he's lying?

Haven't you ever found money on the street or sidewalk?

TnTicketlosers's avatarTnTicketlosers

I seen it on the news this morning,I think it's really cool...

noise-gate

Awesome return on his investment. ...Cheers

cbr$'s avatarcbr$

Congratulation to Hubert Tang, on his scratch off ticket win. Great story.

Get paid's avatarGet paid

I had that happen to me one day found 10 bucks on the ground,thought it was a dollar.Bought some lottery tickets,an of course u know no luck.

But I,m in it to win it.One r two dollars an a dream.Congrats to the winner.

bgman59

I was just sitting here scratching off the new $30 California Lotto ticket, I won $500 on my very first ticket of this game last week, but then my weekend luck dried up after buying other  million dollar lotto tickets, but then this story restored by lotto ticket scratching faith again, congrats !!!

Big Daddy out of Suisun City

Ron5995

He's likely embellishing the past. It's interesting how so many big winners claim never / rarely bought tickets.

While embellishing is one thing, to make a statement about finding a $20 on the ground is risky. In many jurisdictions, lost cash, over a certain threshold, which can be low as $20 in some, must be turned over to the authorities. Even if the reporting threshold, where he found the bill, is higher than $20, there's still a risk of the person who lost the $20 filing a lawsuit, regardless.

On a related note, the same issue applies to discarded winning instant tickets. Some things are best kept on the down-low, but many don't realize that finding something doesn't legally automatically make it theirs. One can find numerous stories of people finding lost cash, winning tickets, etc and having to give it back; getting sued.

Anyways, congrats on his win. Hopefully, he won't run into any problems due to his "I found $20" story.

Crazy Wombat

Quote: Originally posted by Ron5995 on Aug 31, 2015

He's likely embellishing the past. It's interesting how so many big winners claim never / rarely bought tickets.

While embellishing is one thing, to make a statement about finding a $20 on the ground is risky. In many jurisdictions, lost cash, over a certain threshold, which can be low as $20 in some, must be turned over to the authorities. Even if the reporting threshold, where he found the bill, is higher than $20, there's still a risk of the person who lost the $20 filing a lawsuit, regardless.

On a related note, the same issue applies to discarded winning instant tickets. Some things are best kept on the down-low, but many don't realize that finding something doesn't legally automatically make it theirs. One can find numerous stories of people finding lost cash, winning tickets, etc and having to give it back; getting sued.

Anyways, congrats on his win. Hopefully, he won't run into any problems due to his "I found $20" story.

Interesting ... so it might be possible that who ever lost the $20 could be entitled to some of the lottery money or all of the money. He never actually used "his own" money ... someone else paid for that ticket.

If the actual person comes forward saying it was their $20 ... wow, here come the lawyers !!!

Best to always keep your mouth shut ... look at the old prospectors ... they come back to town, buying drinks for everyone, blabbin' about their claim and the next day they're dead.

...

Dee88's avatarDee88

Quote: Originally posted by Ron5995 on Aug 31, 2015

He's likely embellishing the past. It's interesting how so many big winners claim never / rarely bought tickets.

While embellishing is one thing, to make a statement about finding a $20 on the ground is risky. In many jurisdictions, lost cash, over a certain threshold, which can be low as $20 in some, must be turned over to the authorities. Even if the reporting threshold, where he found the bill, is higher than $20, there's still a risk of the person who lost the $20 filing a lawsuit, regardless.

On a related note, the same issue applies to discarded winning instant tickets. Some things are best kept on the down-low, but many don't realize that finding something doesn't legally automatically make it theirs. One can find numerous stories of people finding lost cash, winning tickets, etc and having to give it back; getting sued.

Anyways, congrats on his win. Hopefully, he won't run into any problems due to his "I found $20" story.

    Seems to me that the person or person's  that would come forward to claim that it was their 20 dollars would be kind a hard to prove...how would you convince someone that was your 20 dollar bill....when there are so many going around...I don't even think that the lawyers would even want to get involved...on a side note..make sure you keep track of your money and where you keep it....that fellow just happened to be in the right place at the right time...

maringoman's avatarmaringoman

Quote: Originally posted by Dee88 on Aug 31, 2015

    Seems to me that the person or person's  that would come forward to claim that it was their 20 dollars would be kind a hard to prove...how would you convince someone that was your 20 dollar bill....when there are so many going around...I don't even think that the lawyers would even want to get involved...on a side note..make sure you keep track of your money and where you keep it....that fellow just happened to be in the right place at the right time...

Seems to me that the person or person's  that would come forward to claim that it was their 20 dollars would be kind a hard to prove...how would you convince someone that was your 20 dollar bill

In 2015 it is much easier than it used to be. Plenty of cameras everywhere (they helped catch the Boston bombers and it was very crowded) so if it is true that he found that $20 and someone else remembers losing a $20 around that area, chances are it could be on camera.  Ron is right, keep it to yourself and when possible, collect anonymously

Erzulieredeyes's avatarErzulieredeyes

Quote: Originally posted by Crazy Wombat on Aug 31, 2015

Interesting ... so it might be possible that who ever lost the $20 could be entitled to some of the lottery money or all of the money. He never actually used "his own" money ... someone else paid for that ticket.

If the actual person comes forward saying it was their $20 ... wow, here come the lawyers !!!

Best to always keep your mouth shut ... look at the old prospectors ... they come back to town, buying drinks for everyone, blabbin' about their claim and the next day they're dead.

...

UMMM..... I don't think so. 

 

FINDERS KEEPERS, LOSERS WEEPERS! 

 

The loser has to pay the score. Sucks to be the loser, especially in this case. lol

 

Loser wouldn't be entitled to anything, except maybe his $20.00 back which I would gladly turn over if the loser can prove the serial number on the bill he lost.

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