Costa Mesa Man to Share in $122-Million Prize

An Orange County aerospace worker appears to have one of the four lucky lottery tickets that matched the winning numbers in Saturday’s $122-million Super Lotto Plus jackpot drawing, state lottery officials said.

Russell Norsby of Costa Mesa was declared an “apparent winner” after a preliminary review showed his ticket matched the winning numbers, said Herman Dustman, a California Lottery spokesman and sales manager in Santa Ana.

Norsby bought his ticket last week at the Circle K at 1654 Santa Ana Ave. in Costa Mesa and returned to the store early Sunday morning, Dustman said. At the store, he was issued a claim receipt showing he had a ticket with winning numbers, 6, 9, 17, 27 and 35, and the Mega number, 24, Dustman said.

Before being declared an official winner, Norsby is required to fill out a claim form at a state lottery office and the ticket must undergo the standard verification, Dustman said.

Norsby’s share of the jackpot is expected to be $30.5 million. A hefty 27% of the sum will be paid in federal income taxes, lottery officials said. Even so, Norsby won a piece of the third-largest lottery jackpot in California.

“He was shaking like a leaf. It was just starting to sink in,” Dustman said Sunday. “His wife was in tears.”

The other winning tickets were bought in Rosemead in Los Angeles County, San Marcos in San Diego County and Brisbane in San Mateo County in the Bay Area. The ticket in Rosemead was purchased at Casa de Liquor, 2525 N. San Gabriel Blvd., according to lottery officials.

Norsby, 62, is expected to complete a claim form today at the lottery office.

He has three children.

Kuljit Singh, a Circle K cashier, said Norsby is a regular at the convenience store, which is just blocks from a commercial area in central Orange County. “He comes in here all the time--but not usually with a winning ticket like this one,” Singh said. “We’ve never had a winner before.”

Norsby, a quiet, unassuming man, stood in line Sunday morning to tell Circle K employees that he believed he had a winning ticket. Asked whether he will go to work today, Norsby said “most probably.”

Lottery officials said the store would receive $150,000, which is a half-percent of the winning ticket sold.

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Times photographer Irfan Khan and the Associated Press contributed to this report.