Santa Monica Man's Headache Turned Into $5 Million Lottery Win

SANTA MONICA, CA — An unemployed Santa Monica man is now a multi-millionaire after winning $5 million on a scratcher bought in Santa Monica, the California Lottery announced Monday.

Eric Rubenstein bought a $5,000,000 Platinum Payout scratcher, the newest scratch-off game from the California Lottery, by chance. Rubenstein usually goes to a local Starbucks to search for a job, but on this morning, he got a late start to the day and his usual location was packed. He decided to go to another location, but on the way there, "I got a splitting headache so I stopped at nearby CVS to get some Advil," he said.

That little detour changed his life. It was there that he bought the winning scratcher ticket. Rubenstein won $200,000 for 25 years for a total of $5 million. After checking to make sure he got the winning ticket, he decided to have some fun with his wife.

When his wife got home from work, he told her he had a surprise for her and presented her with a wrapped box. Inside the box was another box, and inside that box was another, and so on. The last box was the one containing the winning ticket.

The couple plans to invest, donate some money to charity, buy a house and contribute to their children's college fund.

The CVS location where Rubenstein bought the winning ticket, located at 2505 Santa Monica Blvd., was also a winner. The store will be receiving a retailer bonus of $25,000 just for selling the winning ticket.

Photo courtesy of California Lottery