I was actually kind of going to throw them away, because I said ‘I’ve never won the lottery,’” said Joaquin Vaughn Redo.

A spur-of-the-moment purchase of a Mega Millions ticket left a lucky $1 million winner in “a kind of disbelief,” California Lottery officials said. But it almost didn’t happen. Joaquin Vaughn Redo and his family bought the ticket during a stop in Newport Beach while driving across California, the lottery said in a Wednesday, March 26, news release.

Mega Millions will raise ticket prices from $2 to $5, a move the lottery said will help raise the average jackpot win from about $450 million to more than $800 million, while also allowing the jackpot to reset to $50 million instead of $20 million after a winning ticket is sold.