Menlo Park man wins $1 million lottery prize

Francisco Lopez, a resident of Menlo Park and the supervisor of a janitorial service, has won a $1 million lottery prize from a $5 California Millionaire Scratchers ticket, the California Lottery announced Friday.

Mr. Lopez bought the ticket at a Pic N Pay Food and Liquor store in Glen Ellen. He told lottery officials he made a last-minute decision at the cash register.

“I knew immediately [I had won],” he told officials, according to a California Lottery press release. “It felt great.”

He said he plans to pay off his family’s bills and maybe consider buying his own business.

The California Millionaire Scratchers game is designed to award 15 instant $1 million prizes, and five second-chance draws for $1 million prizes, lottery officials said.

Mr. Lopez is the fifth player to claim one of the $1 million prizes in the game and the seventh California Lottery player this year to land a prize of at least $1 million, officials said.