Frank Derfield, 53, has hit the jackpot... and before that, he'd hit a pot that wasn't quite the jackpot but wasn't too bad either.
Crediting "stupid luck" in speaking to CBS 5, the San Francisco resident says he scored a winning lotto ticket, one that netted him $5 million, in September at WC Liquor and Groceries (1836 Divisadero). Previously, Derfield won about $100,000 — a serious windfall — just a little more than a year ago.
As he tells the CA Lottery, “It was shock. Disbelief. I definitely defied the odds a lot more this time!” Those odds were 1 in 3,000,000.
Of course, Derfield has been playing the lotto since 1984, so perhaps it was just his time. Regardless, this guy's lotto-playing time should be over — but Derfield doesn't even say for sure if he's going to stop buying lotto tickets.
Finally, for the San Francisco housing angle: Derfield tells CBS 5 how he'll spend the money, and it may not be on a house. “We’re too old to go out and party too much," Derfield says of himself and his wife, "So we’re going to bank it, go on a trip — maybe get rid of my ’85 Toyota Camry, or maybe a house, but I don’t know. San Francisco, the housing market is crazy here.”
Ah, San Francisco: The city so expensive you need to win the lottery three times before you can truly contemplate home ownership.