Lottery Winner Vows to Split Fortune With God

When Cesar T. Gonzalez of Rialto learned Wednesday morning that he had won a share of the $46.7-million state lottery, he thanked God for the blessing and went on about his business.

“I continued on with my work,” he said later in the day, “and I haven’t felt any different yet.”

Gonzalez, 50, who said he makes a modest income as an electrical contractor, will receive an estimated $15.6 million of the Lotto jackpot. His share will be paid in yearly after-tax installments of $623,000 for 20 years, lottery officials said.

Gonzalez will share the prize with the holders of two other winning tickets who were not immediately identified. One of the tickets was purchased in Petaluma and the other in the Contra Costa town of Brentwood, officials said.

Gonzalez plans to donate half of his prize money to church work.

“Half is mine,” he said, “and half is the Lord’s.”

Gonzalez said his wife, Ana, recommended that only 10% of the money go to church work.

“I am going to give half,” he insisted. “I’m the one that won it.”

Gonzalez purchased his winning ticket at a liquor store in Rialto. He used a machine to randomly select the winning numbers, lottery officials said.

He was unaware when he started to work Wednesday morning of his good fortune. As he drove to an electrical job in Los Angeles, his 28-year-old son, Moses, who was riding with him, checked his father’s ticket against a printout of the winning number that he had picked up.

“He asked me to stop the truck and take a look,” Gonzalez said.

After checking the number and giving thanks, Gonzalez drove to the job despite his new riches “because I was committed to do that.”

Along with sharing the money with the First Baptist Church in Rialto, he plans to use some of the funds to send his son, Moses, to ministry school and to buy his 24-year-old son, Aaron, a truck to do missionary work in Tijuana.

Gonzalez also plans to invest some of the money and take his wife on a month’s vacation to Alaska. He doesn’t plan to quit working.

“I think that the Bible tells you that you need to work,” he said. “This is just a blessing.”

The $46.7-million jackpot was about $3 million lower than lottery officials had predicted but was the fifth-largest Lotto payoff in California history and the ninth-largest in North America, lottery officials said.

Seventeen second-place finishers picked five of six winning numbers and will collect an estimated $283,000 each, lottery officials said.

Schools receive 34 cents of every dollar bet in the lottery, 50 cents goes to prizes and 16 cents is used for administration.

In Lotto, the odds of choosing all six numbers from a possible 49 selections is calculated at 14 million to 1.