SoCal woman felt 'itchy palms' before winning $1M from lottery scratcher: 'She said it was fate'

WEST COVINA, LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- You may have heard about the superstition that itchy palms mean money is coming your way.

Well, that may have been what happened when Elena Penaloza bought a Scratchers ticket and ended up winning $1 million.

NOTE: The video above is streaming the ABC7 Los Angeles 24x7 Streaming channel. An updated video on this story will be published soon.

"You know that superstition where when your hands get itchy, it means you're going to get money? She said she felt that the week before she won," said Penaloza's daughter Ariana. "She thinks it was fate."

According to the California Lottery, Penaloza scratched the 16th of 20 squares on her Diamond 8's Scratchers ticket, which she bought at the 7-Eleven store on North Azusa Avenue in West Covina, and won the big prize.

According to Ariana, neither of them initially believed the million-dollar win was real. It wasn't until they went back to the store the next day to scan and confirm it that reality sunk in.

"We walked home and were like 'Oh my,'" Ariana said. "My mom now wants to buy a house."

Penaloza has some company as California's newest millionaire.

A man recently won $5 million in a scratch-off that he bought in Gardena.