‘I’m Not Homeless Anymore!’ California Lottery Names $1 Million Jackpot Winner
The California Lottery has identified Armando Vidal as the guy who won $1 million on a scratcher game in April after he was homeless.
According to lottery authorities on Monday, Vidal spent years living on the streets of Santa Maria and San Luis Obispo (SLO), California, after becoming homeless in 2008 due to an injury that prevented him from working. However, after he bought two $10 Triple Red 777 Scratchers from Sandy's Deli & Liquor in SLO in early April, his personal situation considerably improved.
"Is That True?"
At first, Vidal, a frequent patron of Sandy's, thought he had won $200. Then he believed it may be $100,000, Wilson Samaan, the store manager, said.
“He came to the store, he scratched it, and is like, ‘Oh, my God. Is that real? Wilson, can you come and take a look?’” Samaan told Cal Coastal News in April.
"I’m like, ‘Let me see,’ so I grabbed the ticket out of his hand, went to the machine over there,” Samaan continued. “He’s like, ‘Man, I’m not homeless anymore!’ I’m like, ‘Man, you hit the jackpot.’ He’s like, ‘$100K?’ and I’m like, ‘No, bro. Thats $1 million. Congrats brother,’ and we gave each other a high five.”
“He deserved every penny of it,” Samaan told The San Francisco Chronicle. “He’s a good guy.”
Following his victory, Vidal informed lottery authorities he was overtaken by media attention, particularly after an Instagram interaction he had with Adam Kemp, the owner of the adjacent vintage store Thrifty Beaches, went viral.
He stated that he intends to remain out of the spotlight, utilize the funds to purchase an apartment, and invest the remaining funds to guarantee his financial security.
Hoaxes on Social Media
Vidal's million-dollar victory was exceptional. No other cases of homeless persons winning genuinely life-altering lottery winnings have been discovered by Casino.org. There have been some hoaxes on social media, though.
Rahat Hossain, a YouTube prankster, gained notoriety in 2014 for his "Homeless Lottery Winner" video, in which he delivered a phony winning ticket to a homeless man named Eric Aursby. An accomplice in the scam, a cashier, made the ticket appear to be worth $1,000. The video went viral because of Aursby's emotional response and his willingness to give Hossain a portion of the money.
In order to assist Aursby in finding accommodation, Hossain started a crowdsourcing effort that generated almost $44,000. Aursby asserted in 2018 that he had not gotten the entire sum, nevertheless. Hossain refuted this and subsequently supplied documents that seemed to demonstrate Aursby's deceit.
Even with well-meaning intentions, the tale brought up important ethical issues around the use of vulnerable individuals in social media "experiments" that are presented as entertainment.
