Winner Claims Biggest Lottery Prize In California History: $700 Million

One California man beat the odds last week when he claimed nearly $700 million in lottery winnings -- the largest in the state's history, KNTV reports.

Scott Godfrey's super lucky ticket matched all six Powerball numbers drawn on October 4, according to California Lottery. The new multi-millionaire purchased the ticket from a Morro Bay Albertson's supermarket along with 9 other Quick Picks. The winning numbers were 12-22-54-66-69 and the Powerball number 15.

"At first it’s like you don’t think it’s real, like there’s something wrong with the ticket," Godfrey told KSBY. "You think it can’t actually be that." What made him double-check was when he saw a TV news broadcast talking about the unclaimed money and the Albertson's he purchased the ticket from.

“Everybody thinks there’s a possibility of winning. It’s so infrequent that you can’t imagine it being you so it’s pretty special when you find out," the winner says.

Godfrey won $699.8 million, which is the fifth-largest jackpot in Powerball history and the seventh-largest in U.S. lottery history, according to reporters. He chose to take home a lump sum total of $496 million before taxes. The Albertson's that sold the winning ticket gets a whopping $1 million commission, according to lottery officials.

So what is the new multimillionaire going to do with his money? He says charity.

"We’ve already set up a foundation that’s going to receive quite a bit of the money for working on deliberate charitable things," Godfrey told KSBY, adding that he donated toys to the news station's Season of Hope campaign.

He went on to tell California Lottery: "This jackpot means $78 million was raised for California public education. I definitely looked at it more than once and even had someone else check to make sure I wasn’t just seeing things."