Hardworking father wins $1 million steps away from workplace

By Kate Northrop

VACAVILLE, Calif. — While a hardworking California father thought out how to help his family make a change for the better, little did he know that a daily routine would grant him a way to fast-track his plans with a $1 million lottery prize.

A $1 million win in the lottery accelerated a California man's timeline for starting a new chapter in life with his family and securing a stable future.

Michael Wright of Vacaville never missed a day at work, where he spent three years committed to his job.

Part of his daily routine included walking across the street from his workplace in Vacaville to the ARCO gas station on Elmira Road, a reliable stop where he would pick up some lottery tickets.

The morning the trajectory of his life changed, he had already begun planning an exit strategy to pursue better opportunities for himself, his wife, and his son. That same day, he stopped at the ARCO and selected a $10 "Triple Red 777" scratch-off ticket and put his own meticulous play method to work.

"I got to scratching how I scratch. I start from the bottom right corner and work my way up," Wright told the California Lottery.

When the play area gradually revealed more and more zeros lined up one after the other, a huge moment of realization hit him square in the chest.

"Am I seeing things? Is this a dream?" he recalled of the moment he won. "Oh my gosh, and I lost my mind in the store. I started pounding the little lottery desk."

Wright had won one of the game's $1 million top prizes. Suddenly, the timeline for that exit strategy drastically moved up, and a new chapter became all the more real.

"I told my son, 'We're going to transition. I'll find something else for us. We are going to exit gracefully," he shared with Lottery officials. "This win came at the right time, and if you don't believe in a higher power when this type of stuff happens, you've got to!"

The winnings will help provide him and his family with stability in a number of ways: they'll allow Wright to start a family business with his wife, find a new home, and "lead by example," the Lottery said in a press release.

Wright's win leaves two more top prizes of $1 million left out of 13 to claim in the $10 "Triple Red 777" scratch-off game. There are also 6 out of 27 second-tier prizes of $20,000 as well as 24 out of 109 third-tier prizes of $10,000 remaining.

The overall odds of winning any prize in the game are 1 in 2.92.