‘Why not me?’ Possible brush with SLO County Powerball winner inspires lottery dreams
I was at the Morro Bay Albertsons grocery store on Monday.
That’s where one lucky soul slapped down cold, hard cash for a chance at a $699 million Powerball payout — and won.
When I heard about the California State Lottery winner on Monday night, one thought briefly flashed into my mind: “Why not me?” It’s the thought we all have whenever somebody wins big, no matter where the winner lives.
Why not me? Well, for one reason, because I never buy a lottery ticket.
But I could have been standing in line with the eventual winner, yakking about the cost of meat while waiting to pay for my honey almond butter, watermelon, cornbread and deli chicken salad.
I’ve tried to remember who was standing in the supermarket checkout line with me. Was the winner was the nice man who had offered to get the nut butter off the high shelf for this 5-foot-tall shopper?
I’m certainly no selfie-seeking celebrity hound. But being one grocery cart away from an instant multi-millionaire would be freaking unreal.
I sure hope they kept that golden receipt.
Monday’s winning numbers were 12, 22, 54, 66, 69 and Powerball number 15.
Monday’s $699 million Powerball payout heralded the fifth largest jackpot in Powerball history, the seventh biggest in U.S. lottery history and the first awarded on a Monday night since Aug. 23, when Powerball added Mondays to the Wednesday and Saturday weekly award nights.
The cash-out option is $496 million — certainly not chump change.
The prize reached that stratospheric level because there have been 40 consecutive drawings held without a grand prize winner. Plus, at two bucks a lotto ticket, there were a lot of players.
What’s more, the Albertsons supermarket on Quintana Road gets a cool $1 million for selling the ticket. Divvied up, that would make a lovely bonus between the cashiers, stockers and other employees.
The Central Coast has been home to several lottery winners over the decades, but Monday’s Powerball award is decidedly the biggest local windfall so far.
According to The Tribune’s archives, other lucky locals have won awards of up to $78 million. Most of the winning tickets were purchased at gas stations or convenience or liquor stores
In 1987, a Cambria couple won $2.4 million in the lottery.
All of a sudden, their little antique store was open on what many locals have long referred to as “Cambria time” — “When we’re here, we’re open — when we’re not, we’re not.”
The couple found it difficult to distance themselves at first, because they were living in an apartment above the store.
Like many San Luis Obispo County residents, I hope a local person purchased Monday’s winning Powerball ticket at Albertsons. Maybe it was even a member of Morro Bay’s homeless population who invested a couple of dollars in a gamble on a super future.
The rest of us will have to content ourselves with musing about and yearning for lotto riches — and the realization that we may have been chatting with the future winner of $699 million.
