Three's a Charm for Santa Ana Mom Who Won $1 Million Off Lotto Scratcher

"I scratched it in the car and my reaction, I couldn't believe it," the lucky winner said

A Santa Ana woman won three times playing lottery scratchers, and each time her winnings got larger and larger until she became a millionaire.

It was more than a hunch, there is a method to Yamilet Torrez and her lottery purchases. Always buy three, she tells herself.

Torrez began by buying a scratcher that got her $100. Days later, she went back and plunked more money. That's when the Santa Ana mother got hit it big with a $5,000 winner.

There were too many zeroes for the CVS store to pay her cash. So Torrez went to the lottery office to make her claim.

"I asked her how much they would take out in taxes" Torrez recalled. "It will be about $1,200 and she's like, 'Honey, it's not like you won a million dollars.'"

True, Torrez thought. Then later that afternoon following a dental appointment, she walked over to Amazon smoke shop and bought again. This time a trio of scratchers that cost her $120.

By the time she scratched off her second number she was a millionaire.

"I scratched it in the car and my reaction, I couldn't believe it. I was like, 'Oh, my God! Oh, my God! That's it!" she said.

Moe Biatini, the owner of the smoke shop, says his biggest winner until now was a couple grand. He gets $5,000 for selling the ticket.

"That makes me so surprised, really," Biatini said.

Torrez went back to the lottery that same day, winning scratcher in hand, and presented it to the same lottery official.

"I'm like, Oh, well here's my million-dollar ticket," Torrez said. "She was laughing, she's like, 'Oh, my God!'"

Torrez said she plans to give her sister her car, buy herself a new one and invest the rest of the money.

NBC4's Willian Avila contributed to this report.

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