CA Lottery warns of scams ahead of Super Lotto Plus and Mega Millions drawings

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- People in the Central Valley bought into Wednesday night's billion-dollar Powerball drawing hoping to come out as a big winner.

While no one in the region won the prize, the Super Lotto Plus has reached $78 million after no one won Wednesday night and the Mega Millions jackpot for Friday's drawing sits at $720 million.

"No one's ever going to call you and say 'hey you won the lottery! All you have to do is give me your social security number.' If it sounds too good to be true, it's probably too good to be true," said CA Lottery spokeswoman Carolyn Becker.

Becker said it's important to keep your tickets safe, you'll need that ticket to claim your prize.

"If you win, you have to come forward and claim your prize. We have offices all over California, you can find them on our website. You come in and claim your prize and we make sure it's legitimate," said Becker.

She says there are websites and apps selling lottery tickets, but they're not official and are actually illegal in the state of California. You need to buy your ticket in person to win.

"We have 23,000 partner stores all across the state, it's the safe and secure way to play. Go to the store, buy a ticket and play. Play with your friends, play with your family, just don't buy it online," said Becker.

While no one in the Central Valley won the Powerball jackpot, Becker says California students win every time someone buys a ticket.

About 80 cents from each $2 Powerball ticket sold benefits public schools in California.

Since 1985, $1.2 billion has gone to schools right in Fresno County.

As for people who hope to win a giant jackpot in the future, the giving spirit continues.

"Nobody needs to win that much money and keep it. You need to share that. And there's a lot of nonprofits that surround the area that would benefit from that too," said Jensen.

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