17 October 2023 , 02:38
393
0
A lucky man looking to buy a drink from an off-licence left with a fortune after his cheap lottery ticket won him enough money to hypothetically buy the entire store.
Gary Thomas won $150,000(£122,915.30) a year for life off a measly $5(£4.10) scratch card he bought at a local Florida discount liquor store this week. Gary opted out of the original deal to receive a one-time payment of $2,440,000(£1,999,985).
The lotto winner raced to the Florida Lottery Headquarters in Tallahassee to cash in his check. He said he was amazed at his good fortune stating "it's still sinking in."
He added: "I couldn’t believe it! I still can’t believe it!”
READ MORE:Woman turns small lottery win into whopping $170,000 jackpot
Woman was 'adamant' she would win top lottery prize - then pockets $200,000
The lotto winner raced to the Florida Lottery Headquarters in Tallahassee to cash in his check (Florida Lottery)While Gary won the lottery at a Liquor establishment near the Alabama border, other Floridians have found their luck at Publix, which is a supermarket chain. The company has reportedly been loath to speak about selling the winning tickets. Powerball and Mega Millions jackpots have reached $1 billion(£819,013,000) or more only eight times in US history.
Interestingly, two winning tickets have come out of Florida with both being sold at a Publix. The two stores, one in Melbourne Beach being sold in 2016 and the other at Neptune Beach in 2023, garnered a lot of media attention and gained traction through trending hashtags on X, formerly Twitter.
The grocery store has a policy that prohibits public comments pertaining to the winning lotto tickets. Its corporate website states: "Publix does not participate in or promote lottery stories. Rather, we offer the lottery as a service to our customers."
Powerball and Mega Millions jackpot have reached $1 billion(£819,013,000) only eight times in US history (Getty Images/Tetra images RF)In August, a lucky winner claimed the Mega Millions jackpot, which reached $1.58 billion(£1,294,233.28). As of September 25, the winner has still not revealed themselves, according to Florida Today.
The supermarket earned a hefty $100,000(£81,913.49) bonus commission for selling the golden ticket. The prize was so large because numerous drawings had rolled over from April, which led to the largest sum of prize money in the game's history. A lottery spokeswoman said the rollovers from April garnered more than $70 million(£57,369,900) in funds for education in Florida.
At the time, it was the eighth instance of the Powerball or Mega Millions game climbing to $1 billion(£819,013,000) ever in their history. 2023 has seen it three times so far.
The Powerball game was the first lottery to ever surpass that amount. In a rare instance during 2016, three tickets from California, Tennessee, and Florida all matched the number respectively. The $1.586 billion(£1,300,282,100) was split among them.
John and Lisa Robinson of Tennessee claimed their share soon after the drawing. Another couple, Maureen Smith and David Kaltschmidt, waited about a month before coming forward. Six months later, Marvin and Mae Acosta swooped in for their share of the prize money.