Woman almost gave away her $1.3million lottery ticket

Jan 3, 2015

Los Angeles, CA — Ligia Dennis got the type of surprise most of us can only dream about; she won the lottery.

Dennis purchased the ticket from a coffee shop while doing her laundry. She bought three $6 California Lucky Life Scratchers. However, this lucky moment might not have ever come for her. She decided to give two of the lottery tickets to her mother and brother, and she nearly gave her winning ticket away to a homeless man looking for change.

Dennis was overjoyed we she found out that she had won the lottery. “When I saw LIFE, the winning symbol, I went crazy for a minute,” she said. “It didn’t really process.”

The 26-year-old Los Angeles hairdresser thought her winnings from the ticket totaled $1,000 but soon found out that it was actually $1,000 per week over the next 25 years. That sums up to be a jaw-dropping $1.3 million payout.

It was only after she went to the California Lottery Van Nuys District Office on Dec 26 that she was told that she was to receive $1.3 million from her win.

“I’m shocked. I can’t believe it,” Dennis said.

Dennis has the option of either going with getting a weekly payment or a lump sum which would total around $750,000 before taxes. She is talking to a financial planner and hopes to be able to open up her very own hair salon with the earnings.