Temecula $2.3 Million Lottery Winners Come Forward

TEMECULA, CA – A half-dozen friends from the Riverside County region are the area's newest collective millionaires-- claiming a $2.3 million Mega Millions prize, lottery officials announced Thursday.

The group, who wish to remain anonymous, was represented by Robert Thompson, according to the California Lottery. They also declined to reveal what they plan on doing with the huge windfall.

The $2,333,142 prize was won back on July 5, when the group held a ticket with five matching numbers in the Mega Millions draw. All they missed was the Mega Number.

"As you may remember, after this drawing the jackpot grew to $540 million for the next draw on July 8 (with one jackpot-winning ticket being sold in Indiana)," California Lottery officials said in a news release.

The ticket was sold at the PostalAnnex, located at 31938 Temecula Parkway in Temecula.

"I am so happy for this big win at my store," owner Tom Coronel told the lottery officials.

And happy he should be. Just for selling that winning ticket, Coronel gets $11,665.

"I plan on using the money for the growth and development of my business," the Temecula business owner said. "I am going to make some structural improvements and upgrades."

(Patch file photo by Renee Schiavone)