VISTA - An Oceanside retiree woke up $38 million richer Thursday morning, after a lottery ticket he purchased at a Vista supermarket hit all six numbers in Wednesday night's SuperLotto drawing, state lottery officials said.

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Eugene Salek, 78, showed up at the lottery office in San Diego on Thursday to turn in his winning Quick Pick ticket, which was sold at the Stater Bros. grocery store on Sycamore Drive, officials said.

Salek did not return phone calls Thursday left at his home in the gated Ocean Hills Country Club, a quiet golf-course neighborhood of white stucco homes with manicured lawns in southern Oceanside.

A neighbor of the Saleks said by telephone Thursday that Salek and his wife deserve the money.

"They're wonderful neighbors," said Ocean Hills resident Bette Overman, who said she has known Salek and his wife for about 10 years.

"This is so exciting, I'm so happy for them. I can't think of anyone who deserves it more."

State officials said in a news release that Salek discovered he had hit the jackpot after doing the same thing he has done every morning since retiring in 1990: waking up, making a cup of coffee and checking his Lotto tickets.

The news release said Salek remained calm, even after realizing all six numbers on one ticket were a match: 3, 5, 12, 20, 24 and the Meganumber 6.

"My wife got up, I made her breakfast and after she ate, I said, 'Get dressed, we're going out,' " Salek told lottery officials. "She asked me where we were going, and I told her it was a surprise."

However, Salek couldn't wait to get to the lottery office and gave her the good news on the way.

"(I told her) I got some numbers in the lottery," he said. "And she asked me. 'How many?' and I said, 'All of 'em!' "

Salek had the choice of receiving the money in one lump some or in annual payments over the next 26 years, and chose the latter option. His first payment will be roughly $950,000. By 2033, the annual payment will be nearly $2 million.

Of that money, 25 percent will be taken out for federal taxes, said Cathy Doyle Johnston, a lottery spokeswoman. Though there are no state or local taxes on the money, he will have to declare them on future income tax forms, she added.

Winners can add other people, such as family members, to their lottery claim, allowing the money to be passed onto survivors, Doyle Johnston said.

Salek said in the media release that he doesn't know what he will do with the winnings, but will probably invest most of it.

The state will pay the Stater Bros. $190,000 for selling the winning ticket, lottery officials said.

Stater Bros. Chief Executive Officer Jack H. Brown said in a phone interview Thursday that some of that money will pay for a "little surprise" for employees at the Sycamore Drive store.

"It's a thrill for us to have one of our customers win," Brown said. "I think it puts a smile on all of our faces."

Employees at the store learned about the big win early Thursday from a customer, said Erika Skaar, store manager.

"Everybody's just really excited," she said of the general mood of the employees.

Though the store workers were abuzz, few of the shoppers who were browsing the aisles Thursday morning had heard about the winning ticket.

Clarence Johnson said he was surprised to learn the news, as he walked up to the store to check his own lottery tickets.

"I'm going in to chew them out right now," he joked about the employees who had sold him Lotto tickets. "Why didn't they give (the winning ticket) to me?"

Johnson, who said he often buys lottery tickets at the store, said he would stay quiet if he won a large jackpot.

"I wouldn't say nothing to nobody," he said. "I'd just lay down, and then go talk to my lawyer and my financial adviser."

Skaar said she expects the store will start selling more lottery tickets as customers hear the news.

Nick Christ, another frequent customer at the Stater Bros., said to count him the first in line.

Though he said he generally avoids playing the Lotto, "I just changed my mind."

"This is too close to home," Christ said. "I will definitely be buying some."

Christ said he would try to put the money to good use if he won a big jackpot.

"I'd buy a big ranch and put all the kids who have nowhere to go on it," he said. "Then I'd take a vacation."

There have been 158 winning SuperLotto tickets sold in San Diego County since the state started the program in 1985, said Doyle Johnston, the lottery spokeswoman.

At least a couple of those winners have been sold in Vista.

In 1993, an unemployed aerospace worker and his wife won $7.8 million with a ticket they bought at La Bota Liquor and Market on East Vista Way.

A few years later, in 1997, a newlywed couple won $8 million with a ticket they purchased at a 7-Eleven only about a block away on East Vista Way.

- Contact staff writer Stacy Brandt at (760) 631-6622 or sbrandt@nctimes.com.