The grateful winner of a Mega Millions lottery has promised to give $10,000 to the clerk who sold him a winning ticket so her family can take trip to their home of South Korea.
Sue Park, 54, the owner of Howards Mini Mart in Bakersfield, Calif, says Max Coronado — her “favorite customer” — comes to play the lottery three times a week, each time proposing that if he wins, they will go to Korea to start a Taco Bell together.
“Of course, I thought he was just playing around,” Park said through a translator. “He’s a retired senior. Do you think he would go to Korea to open a Taco Bell?”
Coronado, who spends $80 each week playing the lottery, matched only five of the six numbers on his ticket in Tuesday’s drawing, narrowly missing out on the $106 million Mega jackpot. But he still offered $10,000 of his winnings to Park.
Coronado, who has not responded to calls from ABCNews.com, has shown himself to be a generous tipper in the past.
“A long time ago when he had a $100 winning ticket that my daughter sold to him, he gave her a $10 tip,” Park said.
Park knew Coronado had won moments before he came to the mart to fill up on gas and ritually check his month’s worth of accumulated lottery tickets. The day after the winning numbers were announced, a Mega Millions representative came to the store to time check the company’s records against the store’s security footage, she said.
Ten minutes later, Coronado turned up and was “very surprised” to learn he had won $1,567,705, plus an additional $92, part of which he immediately spent on more lottery tickets.
The winning ticket matched the numbers 12, 2, 54, 56 and 18, but missed the Mega number which was 1. The odds of matching all six numbers is 1 in 175,711,536, according to the Mega Millions website.
Park has reason to believe Coronado will come through, believing him to be a man who “stands by his words,” but she remains philosophical about the offer, saying, “It doesn’t matter whether he gives it to me or doesn’t.”
KERO/ABC News
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