Torrance Man Wins $4.3 Million

Eighteen months ago, Torrance truck driver John Benton pocketed $215,000 when the Quick Pick Lotto ticket he purchased churned out five of six winning numbers, plus the bonus number.

Big deal.

Nine days ago, Benton won some real money when he once again let a computer pick his numbers and it produced all six winning digits.

Benton’s take: $4.3 million.

“I feel numb,” the 52-year-old Benton told a lottery official.

After Uncle Sam takes his 20% share off the top, Benton will receive $172,800 a year for 20 years, said a state lottery official.

The odds of someone getting all six winning numbers are one in 23 million; the odds of getting five winning numbers and the bonus number are one in 3.8 million.

State lottery spokeswoman Jana Matal said Benton did not want to discuss his good fortune with the media. However, he did tell lottery workers that he lost his truck driver’s job in September when the firm he worked for filed for bankruptcy and laid off its employees. Since then, he had been hauling goods on his own.

Benton, who won the money Dec. 19 but waited until Monday to claim it, said he now plans to retire.

“He said, ‘I’m not going to drive trucks anymore,’ ” Matal recalled.

Benton’s luck did not extend to the STOP N GO convenience market on Sepulveda Boulevard where he purchased the ticket.

Up until Nov. 30, a store that sold a winning ticket was entitled to a small percentage of the jackpot, Matal said. In this case, that amount would have been $21,600.

As of Dec. 1, however, stores receive only a 6-cent sales commission for each ticket sold. The change was made because ticket sellers wanted a larger commission than the 5 cents they were getting, Matal said.