$10 Million Is His Lucky Lotto Number

The winning number for the biggest lottery award in Orange County history, $10.08 million, was punched out just one minute before the deadline by a “quick-pick” Lotto sales computer in Anaheim, lottery officials said Thursday.

“Whoever it was, was extremely lucky,” a lottery spokeswoman said.

The unidentified winner indicated that he was leaving town for a weekend in Palm Springs to get his thoughts together and celebrate, said Kuljeet Nijar, owner of the 7-Eleven convenience store in Anaheim where the Lotto ticket was purchased at 7:44 p.m. Wednesday. The machines close at 7:45 p.m.

“He’s too excited right now,” said Nijar, who spoke with the ecstatic--and as yet unidentified--winner Thursday morning.

In fact, Nijar is scratching his head over who the mystery man might be among his 1,000 or so customers at the store in the 1000 block of North Harbor Boulevard.

Nijar’s wife, Bably, believes that he is the same man who buys two Lotto tickets every Saturday and Wednesday. This Wednesday, she said, “he was in a real hurry. This time he bought three quick-picks.”

The countdown to the $10-million prize wasn’t far behind.

Thirteen minutes after the mystery man bought his ticket in Anaheim, Lotto officials in Sacramento drew the numbers. A few minutes later, the winner called the Nijars’ store.

The couple said they were home eating Chinese food when a store clerk called to say the $10-million Lotto winner had just telephoned to check his numbers: 4, 11, 20, 29, 35 and 38.

“At first, we couldn’t believe it,” Kuljeet Nijar said. “Then the lottery people called us.”

So while the unknown millionaire enjoys a last weekend of anonymity in Palm Springs, the Nijars will be planning what to do with their share of his luck.

The lottery gives one-half of 1% of the winnings to the store where the ticket was purchased. In this case, that means $50,000, which the Nijars said they want to use, in part, for a vacation at Disney World in Florida.