Oakland woman wins $6 million scratcher, will spend it on more scratchers

A woman won a scratcher worth $6 million in Oakland this week, according to the California Lottery Commission. A woman won a scratcher worth $6 million in Oakland this week, according to the California Lottery Commission. Photo: Ludsam/Getty Images Photo: Ludsam/Getty Images Image 1 of / 20 Caption Close Oakland woman wins $6 million scratcher, will spend it on more scratchers 1 / 20 Back to Gallery

An ordinary errand took a wild turn for an Oakland woman this week when she bought a $10 scratcher ticket worth $6 million while accompanying her husband on a trip to Safeway to buy milk, according to the California Lottery Commission.

The woman, Peggy Rike, told the commission she has an elaborate circuit of 12 stores in Oakland and San Leandro where she buys scratchers, sometimes making three or four stops in a single day — but the Safeway at 4100 Redwood Road where she bought the winning scratcher isn't part of her normal rotation.

The Safeway in Oakland's Crestwood area will receive a $30,000 retailer bonus from the lottery commission for selling the winning ticket, according to the commission.

Rike still hasn't decided whether to take the lump-sum payment of $3,480,000 or the annuity, which would pay $20,000 monthly for 25 years, she told the commission.

Despite the "Set for Life" branding of the tickets, if Rike takes the annuity, the payout of $240,000 won't be enough to make her a one percenter in the dazzlingly expensive Bay Area.

In Oakland, more than 1 in 5 married couples made $200,000 or more a year in 2016, according to the Census (in San Francisco, it's a third of married couples that pull in $200,000 or more, and the mean income for married couples is a staggering $193,669).

On the bright side for Rike, California is only one of three states that has an income tax but does not levy it on lottery winnings, according to the Tax Foundation, a nonprofit think tank. The others are Pennsylvania and Delaware.

That's thanks to 33-year-old Proposition 37, passed by California voters in 1984, which states that "no state or local taxes shall be imposed" on "the sale of lottery tickets or shares of the lottery."

Rike said her plans for the winnings aren't finalized, but they'll probably spend the money on things that they love: Her husband will buy books, and she will buy more scratchers, with the lucky Safeway now added to the rotation of stores where she buys them.

"That's our entertainment!" she said.

Filipa Ioannou is an SFGATE staff writer. Email her at fioannou@sfchronicle.com and follow her on Twitter