Woman’s retirement is much closer after massive CA lottery win. ‘Must be dreaming!’
A lucky lottery player is closer to retirement after winning a life-changing prize in California.
The $10 million winner thought she was dreaming when she saw the massive prize, the California Lottery said in a Dec. 6 news release.
Nora Hammersteadt bought some lottery tickets at a liquor store in Orange County on her way home from work one day, lottery officials said.
Among her tickets was a $30 Royal Riches scratch game.
Hammersteadt scratched the ticket and saw she had won the game’s top prize.
“I’ve won a few thousand dollars playing before, but nothing like this,” Hammersteadt told lottery officials. “It was a shocker.”
But she didn’t believe the win was real at first.
“I was thinking ‘this can’t be real, I must be dreaming!’ I’m going to pinch myself and wake up one of these days,” she said.
She also won $100 off another lottery ticket she bought the same day.
Hammersteadt told lottery officials she had to wait a week before claiming her prizes, calling her week of work “torture.”
“It was crazy that week; I was just in a daze,” Hammersteadt said. “One of the hardest parts was I had to keep it a secret. I couldn’t tell anyone because you know how people talk.”
She told lottery officials she can now retire two years sooner.
This story was originally published December 6, 2024 at 2:19 PM with the headline "Woman’s retirement is much closer after massive CA lottery win. ‘Must be dreaming!’."
