A ticket for the Fantasy 5 lottery sold at a Valero station in San Leandro had the five winning numbers needed to secure the $350,357 grand prize.
The winning numbers were 8, 13, 28, 30 and 35. People who play the Fantasy 5 lottery can win in multiple ways — a ticket with 4 matching numbers yields a $400 prize, and a ticket with three matching numbers gets the player a $15 prize. In this draw, there were 266 tickets with four matching numbers and 8,587 tickets with three matching numbers, but only one ticket that had all five of the winning numbers.
A manager at the Valero station, located at 14798 Washington Ave. in San Leandro, confirmed that the winning ticket had been sold at their location on Saturday afternoon.
The lucky winner hasn’t stepped up to receive their prize yet, according to Carolyn Becker, a public information officer for the California Lottery. They have 180 days to claim the money, and they can do so by going to a California Lottery office or mailing in their ticket, Becker said.
If the prize is still unclaimed after that time period — for example, if the winner lost their ticket or never realizes they won — the money will be given to California’s public education system. Schools, from elementary schools all the way up to universities and community colleges, would all get a slice of that money, Becker said.
“If nobody gets the prize money, it’s still a good win for schools,” Becker said. “It’s supplemental funding for schools, and it’s really discretionary — they can spend it in a lot of different ways.”
Becker added that the Fantasy 5 game is the one where players have the best odds of winning.
“I think a lot of people focus on those really big jackpot games, like Mega Millions or Powerball,” Becker said. “We’re talking about much lower amounts you can win, but the odds are much better.”
That doesn’t mean winning a prize is easy, though — the odds of drawing all five winning numbers on a Fantasy 5 ticket are 1 in 575,757, according to the California Lottery website.
Source: www.mercurynews.com