$395M Mega Millions jackpot: Winner with 1 of 2 tickets sold at same California store ID'd
Image shows actual winning ticket from the historic Mega Millions draw held in December 2023. / California Lottery
LOS ANGELES - One of two winners of the $395 million Mega Millions jackpot drawing last year was identified by California Lottery officials Tuesday.
F. Lahijani bought one of the two winning tickets - which were sold at the same Chevron gas station in the neighborhood of Encino in Los Angeles County.
That lucky store located at 18081 Ventura Boulevard also received a record-breaking bonus check for selling both of the jackpot-winning tickets in the U.S. for that drawing, which was held on Dec. 8, 2023.
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"This was only made possible by the fact that the same store sold two jackpot-winning tickets over two separate transactions," said Carolyn Becker, California Lottery spokesperson. "This has never happened before, and we want to congratulate the owners of this particular retail location!"
For each ticket sold, the retailer earned a bonus of $987,500 - totaling to a whopping $1.9 million. That's the highest bonus ever received by a single retailer in California Lottery history, officials said.
Lahijani and the owners of that lucky Chevron gas station declined to provide further comment.
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The second winner of that Mega Millions jackpot still has not come forward. They have one year from the date of the draw to claim the prize. So that means the winner must come forward by Dec. 8, 2024 to claim their prize of the remaining $197.5 million.
Both Lahijani and the owners of the Chevron respectfully declined public comment and told the California Lottery they are not interested in speaking to the media.
The person with the second winning ticket has not come forward; they have one year from the date of the draw to claim their prize of the remaining $197,500,000.