A gas station in Encino, California, caused quite a stir after selling two winning lottery tickets on the same day, worth a total of nearly $400 million.
The tickets were sold at the Chevron gas station located at 18081 Ventura Boulevard, NBC Los Angeles reported Saturday.
The store matched the Mega Millions numbers in the Friday drawing, the outlet said, adding, “The jackpot from Friday’s drawing is worth about $395 million. It is unclear if both tickets were purchased by different parties or the same player.”
One of the gas station’s employees is extremely curious to know who bought the tickets, according to KCAL News.
“I think it’s a regular,” the young man said. “That’d be even cooler if it is because I would know them.”
Although it was initially unclear how such a thing could happen, California Lottery spokesperson Carolyn Becker had a few answers to that question, according to a Mega Millions news release posted Monday:
“While this is incredibly unusual and interesting, it’s not unheard of,” said Carolyn Becker, California Lottery spokesperson. “There are any number of explanations; perhaps one person wanted to try their luck on two different rows for whatever reason, or maybe a couple of buddies wanted to try their chances with the same exact numbers. We won’t know exactly how this happened until the prize is claimed.”
The California Lottery won’t reveal whether the ticket was purchased by the same player or by two players to protect the integrity of the security review process once there’s a prize claim. “That’s one of the questions our law enforcement team will ask anyone who comes forward,” Becker said. “Only legitimate winners know the answers to some of our most important questions during the standard vetting process; it’s one of the ways we determine that the person who claims the prize is, in fact, the rightful winner.”
Winners may receive lump sum cash payments or graduated annual installments, the NBC report said, adding, “It is unclear how much the Chevron gas station will earn for selling the tickets.”
