California man reveals secret to how he played his $5 million winning scratch-off lottery game
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Sacramento resident Clyde Stokely has a special way of playing the lottery, and this time it succeeded way beyond his wildest expectations.
The long-term player has tried different games in the California Lottery over many years.
But his persistence finally paid off this week when he won the $5 million prize from a 100X Scratchers ticket.
Stokely's lucky moment came when he matched number 28 on his ticket, taking away the top prize.
He couldn't believe it at first. “I was excited, of course. I had to look at it a bunch of times in my vehicle to make sure I wasn’t seeing 26 instead of 28,” he told California Lottery officials.
“I also looked at it a bunch of times at home and had the confirmation I needed. I won!” said Stokely.
California’s latest instant millionaire said he won because of the way he plays all Scratchers games.
He only scratches off the top part of each box first to see the numbers.
This time, when he saw that one of the numbers, 28, was a match, he knew he’d won - but didn’t know how much.
So he scratched the rest of the box and found himself looking down in disbelief at $5,000,000.
“I don’t consider myself superstitious,” he said about his lucky method.
“It’s just a funny thing to do. There’s no logic behind it.”
2. If it is a match, he then scratches the rest of the box.
3. He persists by playing year after year.
“That’s how I play all of them. I guess you can say it’s just a quirky way that adds suspense,” Stokely shared.
Stokely intends to keep playing the lottery in his unique way, as he doesn’t plan on fixing something that’s not broken.
“I’ll keep playing the same way for sure,” he confirmed to lottery officials.
The winning ticket was sold at Cambria General Store in San Luis Obispo County. The store owner got a $25,000 bonus for selling the lucky ticket.
Stokely has preferred to keep his identity private, but state rules made some of his details public.
Clyde, who bought his lucky ticket on August 9, is a private person, according to Carolyn Becker, the spokesperson for the California Lottery.
"He's extraordinarily private," Becker stated.
"Stokely wants nothing to do with being in the public eye," Becker mentioned during a phone call with The Tribune on Friday.
Despite his preference for privacy, California Lottery's rules require certain details to be shared.
"The state's lottery rules mandate the release of the winner's name, when and where he bought the ticket, and the size of the win," Becker explained.
Although Stokely opted to keep his hometown and other personal information under wraps, the rules allowed him to do so.
Unveiling Stokely's name to the public took more time than usual.
This was because verifying a scratch-off win takes longer than a regular lottery win, as more checks are needed to confirm the ticket's validity.
Buying scratchers is as easy as any other store purchase, sold directly over the counter.
The catch? Sellers don't keep a record of the buyer, making it crucial for the state to verify each winning ticket's authenticity.
Wins that reach $1 million or more are significant enough for the California Lottery to announce them to the public.
"California Lottery considers any win of $1 million or more to be big enough to warrant notifying the public about it," Becker revealed.
This policy ensures transparency and maintains public trust in the lottery system.
The lottery system is no stranger to processing a high volume of prize claims.
"The system processes more than 10,000 prize claims a month," Becker said, highlighting the frequency of wins.
Remarkably, around 120 of these claims each year are for $1 million or more, just like the impressive prize Stokely landed.
