San Jose is buzzing with the news of a local lottery player who scratched their way to a cool $2 million at a quite ordinary liquor store on South King Road. Thuy Ho hit the jackpot with the Instant Prize Crossword game, a maneuver proving to be more than luck considering the daunting 1 in 1,231,125 odds.

Ho bought the lucky ticket at TPS Liquor, California Lottery revealed Thursday. This East San Jose store became the launchpad for Ho's financial stratosphere shot. Ho is hardly alone in their newfound wealth. It's practically raining millions across California, with four other players—Northridge, Ridgecrest, Los Angeles, and Manteca residents—also joining the seven-figure winnings club. In the lush lottery landscape of California's crosswords, it seems there are 32 $2 million prizes up for grabs, so who knows who the next lucky so-and-so will be?

Amidst the celebrations, let's not forget Uncle Sam's cut from these dreamy jackpots. The California Lottery starts the buzzkill by withholding a flat 24% of gigantic prizes for the IRS, a figure that might make one's heart sink faster than a lead balloon. No state taxes, though, a small reprieve for the Golden State's latest batch of instant millionaires. As SFGATE notes, Ho declined to share their personal win tale with the public.

Despite the allure of these individual wins, it's the Powerball drawing eyes with its jaw-dropping $1.3 billion on the line. Still, let’s not gloss over where much of the scratch-off revenue winds up: California’s education system, specifically K-12 schools, which is perhaps the only instance where losing tickets can still feel a bit like a win for the community. As further noted by KRON4, the California Lottery processes an average of at least 10,000 claims a month from over 23,000 retail locations, selling dreams one scratch at a time. With such a flurry of activity, it’s a reminder that, while we can’t all be Thuy Ho, the dream of instant wealth is alive and well—at least till the scratcher says otherwise.