Calif. Pizza Delivery Guy Gets Tip of a Lifetime, Wins $1.2 Million

HEMET, CA- A Pizza Hut worker who says he had been down on his luck and finances in recent days no longer has to worry about stretching his last $100 to make ends meet, having received the tip of a lifetime that just made him a millionaire.

31-year-old Joseph Carrillo says it was on the advice of a co-worker that he went out to purchase a few $2 Set For Life Scratchers. Though the busy single father, who works delivering pizzas in Hemet, was in the middle of a move, he decided to stop at Paradise Express Liquor & Market in town.

“My buddy was on a winning streak – winning $100 Scratchers this past week. I was getting frustrated with the guy! I’m moving. I need the money!! So I asked him, ‘How do you do it!? Give me some luck!’” Carrillo explained with a laugh.

California Lottery officials say Carrillo purchased a total of three tickets. The first, no success. The second, nothing. But the third changed everything.

“It was just on a whim. If I’d won $50 it would have been great,” Carrillo said. “I’m tickled, I’m flabbergasted, I’m waiting for my heart to explode, I’m waiting to go to sleep and never wake up again. I don’t know! My buddy said there was a one in six million chance to win the grand prize. It’s me!”

Now, Carrillo— who was moving because he couldn’t afford his current apartment any longer— says he plans on getting himself out of debt and taking a vacation.

The lucky Set for Life scratcher Carrillo purchased won him $4,000 a week for the next 25 years, which equates to $1.2 million, according to lottery officials. Opting for the cash payout, Carrillo will walk away with $696,000 before federal taxes.

But just because he’s suddenly found himself with the financial resources he’s needed, that doesn’t mean he’s quitting his day job.

“I don’t want to stop working,” Carrillo told the Press Enterprise. “I think that would be foolish.”