08-07-2025
Lottery player thinks she won $500. Real amount has her in ‘speechless disbelief'
A California woman has known for more than a decade good fortune would come her way.
Since she won a $30,000 prize on a Mega Millions ticket in Arizona in 2011, Deborah Trullinger just knew, California Lottery officials said in a July 3 news release.
'I've been telling everybody,' Trullinger said in the release. ''You just wait, I'm going to win the multi-million dollar jackpot.''
Turns out, her prediction wasn't wrong — a recent scratch-off ticket purchase led to her to a life-changing lottery win.
Trullinger was buying groceries at a Murrieta grocery store when she decided to also pick up some lottery tickets, including a $20 Cash King ticket, lottery officials said.
She ran a few more errands, then scratched her ticket once she got home 'as her husband watched the news,' lottery officials said.
'I didn't have my glasses on, so I was scratching, and I thought 'Oh! I won 500 dollars,'' Trullinger said. 'Then I said 'honey, I think I won 5,000' and then I go, 'wait a minute.''
'Overwhelmed,' she walked in front of her husband; she stood there 'speechless,' lottery officials said.
'What?' he asked. 'You won $5,000?'
'No,' Trullinger said. 'We won a little more than that.'
The couple had won the game's top prize of $5 million, lottery officials said.
Trullinger verified her win using the lottery app on her phone.
When she held her phone up to her husband, he 'joined her in speechless disbelief,' lottery officials said.
'We both broke down in tears,' Trullinger said. 'It was just an unforgettable moment.'
The couple, who will soon celebrate their 45th wedding anniversary, plans to use their winnings to move up retirement and travel together.
Hawaii, a new car and maybe a new home are among the things they are immediately eyeing, lottery officials said.
While Trullinger's prediction may have been more than a decade in the making, 'she was right all along, and it came along just at the right time,' lottery officials said.
Murrieta is about an 85-mile drive southeast from Los Angeles.
