NBA Star Gilbert Arenas Shares Lottery Winnings With Homeless Man

CALABASAS, CA — Remember last week when someone won over $300K from a lottery ticket at a Calabasas Shell station?

Turns out that lucky winner was Gilbert Arenas, the former Golden State Warriors and Washington Wizards basketball player, who still plays the numbers often despite a reported $40 million net worth.

But that’s just the beginning of a fascinating tale of chance and charity that Arenas recounted on his Instagram page Monday night. In a lengthy post, Arenas said that late on May 12, he wanted to get his lottery ticket at his “hookup station” — the Shell on Calabasas Road right off the 101 Freeway. He saw that his car was empty and he only had $10 on him, so he pulled up to another station, where a homeless man asked him for change.

Arenas said that he didn’t feel like engaging (see the full post below for his exact thoughts; warning: explicit language), so he told the man that he only had $10 and needed to get to his favorite station before it closed to buy a lottery ticket. Arenas said he offered the man $5, but the man told him he wouldn’t make it to the station on just $5, so Arenas agreed to give him $20 if he won.

Warning: NSFW language

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This caption is not about good deed but about a struggling mans sacrifice and belief may 12th I rushed out the house to play my lotto numbers forgot my money and the car was on E I had a whole $10 in the car I pulled up to the gas station to get $10 worth so I can head to (my hook up gas station) and then a struggling man says (hey sir can u spare me some change) my first thought was PHUCK I don't have time for this shit today so I said mannn I have $10 for some gas and that's it,I have 8 mins to get to the other gas station to play my numbers before it's to late he says u can play here...I said the other gas station lets me push the buttons myself he then says how far u going! My brain is saying (the fuck u asking all the questions for ) so I was only going to CALABASAS which was 7 mins away but lied and said Thousand Oaks which was at least 16 mins away so before he did the math on everything I said " 8 mins before the cut off but it's 16 mins away" I said listen I'll just use $5 dollars for gas and u can have the other $5 he then says (from here to Thousand Oaks and back) u won't make it on $5 so KEEP the $10 and after u WIN hook me up with $20! I said are u sure he said yes I know ur gonna win by the time I got to the my hookup gas station they were closed I guess they closed early for repair so I didn't get to play my numbers I wake up to a text Wednesday morning saying congratulations U won 300k I've heard this scammer type shit happening so I ignored the next becuz I didn't get to play my numbers so I couldn't have won shit....I went to the gas station later that day to play powerball that was later that night and the owner runs out saying YOU WON i texted u I said huh I didn't play yesterday..he said I played ur numbers for u becuz I was closing early and u WON long story short.....I pulled up on my guy yesterday and gave him his cut (for his safety) won't say the number he jumped up and hugged me for 5 mins crying and then started to pray I've given back to the homeless BUT never was blessed by one his good hearted gesture of me making it back home blessed that ticket #happysunday
A post shared by Gilbert Arenas (@no.chill.gil) on May 17, 2020 at 11:31am PDT

Arenas didn’t end up making it to Calabasas in time, but the former Most Improved Player and Most Valuable Player still woke up to a text Wednesday morning congratulating him for winning $300K.

At first Arenas thought the text was a scam and ignored it. But when he got to his hookup station, manager Mehread “Mo” Kalanthary ran out and congratulated him for winning. It turns out that Kalanthary (who himself has won $15K and told Patch that Arenas has won $21K from the SuperLotto Plus) entered Arenas’ numbers for him.

“I’m for him — he paid me a bunch many times, so I’m happy at least he get some money, and I hope that today he win the jackpot,” said Kalanthary, who has managed Arenas’s favorite station for the past 19 years. “I don’t care how many millions he has — everybody who plays needs the money — poor people or rich people.”

And it turns out that a poor person and a rich person both got to share the winnings.

Arenas kept his promise to the homeless man and gave him an undisclosed portion of his winnings.

“He jumped up and hugged me for 5 mins crying and then started to pray,” Arenas wrote in the post. “I’ve given back to the homeless BUT never was blessed by one … his good-hearted gesture of me making it back home blessed that ticket.”