A coworker's text jokingly asking if Michael Chavez didn't show up to work because he won the lottery jackpot turned out to be no joke at all.

Jeffry Figueroa, who purchased his lucky Winter Magic Multiplier scratcher for $10 at Koko’s Liquor in Los Angeles, drove to the California Lottery office in Santa Fe Springs to pick up his winnings, officials said in a Jan. 24 news release. When he turned in the ticket, officials told him he’d actually won the game’s top prize of $1 million.

The California Lottery announced Tuesday that a Mega Millions player only realized he bought a winning ticket in Los Angeles County when he got a text from his coworker, asking if he wasn’t at work due to winning the lottery.

A California lottery player got a shock of a lifetime when he went to claim what he thought was a $1,000 prize from a winning scratchers ticket. Turns out he was mistaken, and he actually hit the top prize of $1 million.