$12 million jackpot winner's privacy jeopardized in blunder
By Kate Northrop
The California Lottery has issued a statement after they accidentally exposed a $12 million SuperLotto Plus jackpot winner's personal address in a press release.
A $12 million SuperLotto Plus jackpot winner's privacy was jeopardized after the California Lottery inadvertently revealed their home address in a news release instead of the retailer's.
On Friday, the California Lottery issued a press release via email announcing recent big winners. The email was sent out to 800 media outlets, the Lottery said.
The announcement identified Raul Servellon de Leo as the winner of the $12 million SuperLotto Plus jackpot in the Nov. 29, 2025 drawing. State lotteries may typically publish the location where the winning ticket was sold in their news releases.
Instead of publishing the address of the King Wine and Liquor 2 retailer on Fruitridge Road in Sacramento, the release named Servellon de Leo's home address instead.
"Protecting player privacy and ensuring accurate information are top priorities for the California Lottery," the Lottery followed up in a second press release. "This has never happened for the California Lottery, and we are reviewing our protocols to ensure this doesn't occur again. We regret the mistake and appreciate the public's understanding as we work quickly to ensure all information shared is accurate and secure."
While some states allow lottery winners to claim prizes without revealing their name, lottery winners cannot claim prizes anonymously in California. Winners' names, the retailer that sold the winning ticket, the date a prize was won, and the amount in winnings are all considered part of the public record and are subject to disclosure.
However, home addresses are protected from those transparency laws to mitigate safety and security risks to the winner.
Servellon de Leo matched all five regular numbers plus the Mega Ball to win the $12 million jackpot on Nov. 29, 2025. The winning numbers were 20, 21, 22, 32, and 43, with Mega Ball 12.
SuperLotto Plus is a draw game local to California, in which players pick five numbers from 1 to 47 and one number between 1 and 27 for a chance at the progressive jackpot. Drawings take place on Wednesdays and Saturdays at 7:57 p.m. Pacific Time. The jackpot starts at $7 million and increases every drawing that occurs without a winner.
The SuperLotto Plus jackpot currently stands at $9 million for the next drawing on Wednesday, April 8 at 7:57 p.m. Pacific Time. Tickets cost $1 each.
All winning numbers, prizes and odds can be found on Lottery Post's California Lottery Results page right after each drawing.
Update: Out of respect for the California Lottery, we have removed the phrase, "has removed a press release from their website" from the first paragraph of this story to reflect that the $12 million SuperLotto Plus winner announcement was never published on the California Lottery's website.
As of this afternoon, the California Lottery reached out to Lottery Post to provide statements on the unintentional release of the winner's address:
"The release was never published, neither was the winner's address," Lottery Strategic Communications Supervisor Daniel Kelly said. "It did go out in a press release, but that release was quickly followed by a correction. I have yet to see any publication that published the address, and the press release was never published on our website."
The email was sent out to 798 addresses, many of which were duplicate news organizations, Kelly further clarified. Of those, 49% of the recipients opened the release.
Immediately after the accidental release of the winner's address, the California Lottery issued the following statement:
"Earlier today, the California Lottery identified an error in a press release in which a player's address was mistakenly included in place of the correct retailer address. The earlier release was sent only to media outlets, and once we discovered the error, we moved quickly to contact the newsrooms that received the information.
We have corrected the error and updated all distributed materials to reflect the correct retailer address: King Wine & Liquor 2, 2346 Fruitridge Road, Sacramento, CA 95822.
Protecting player privacy and ensuring accurate information are top priorities for the California Lottery. This has never happened for the California Lottery, and we are reviewing our protocols to ensure this doesn't occur again. We regret the mistake and appreciate the public's understanding as we work quickly to ensure all information shared is accurate and secure."
It's ok with me publish my Address because l don't actually stay at my address . I will be traveling 24/7 New $1,000,000 motorhome. I won't even be in a Black state. Since am Black l move to a white state lol 😝
* This isn't the first time they screwed up. Back in 2012, they swooped down onto a store & demanded footage of the sales of the day to find the jackpot winner & posted their faces on TV.
* They seemed to have forgotten that a winner had a year to come forth & claim their prize, not less than 2 months after the win. I seriously thought these errors were a thing of the past. Will probably hear ( New Staff) excuse.
No excuse for that data breach. I hope there is a lawsuit. Gross incompetence. 800 media outlets!!! How can one mix up a retailer address which is likely in their system vs a personal address?
Wow!
I know, right.
It'd be like mistaking liverwurst for olive loaf.
Have a shaggy day!
ShagE3
"The release was never published "
It really makes you wonder if it was a mistake or if someone at the lottery didn't like the winner for some reason and did it maliciously and deliberately.
Regardless it's California so the responsible parties probably won't get fired and may just get a promotion and a raise.
California should just become an 'anonymous' state, and make life easy for everyone.
I agree. It took a concerted effort and affirmative steps to place the home address in vs the store address.
All the more reasons for California to remain anonymous it's ridiculous. It's dangerous out here. They didn't get the memo I would be terrified to go back to that house. but buyers should have the right to remain anonymous it's OK to give information out about where the ticket was purchased at, but forget given all that information out about the winner like a blessing and a curse at the same time