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Tampa Woman Claims $12 Million Lotto Jackpot

NR 05-30-01 ... A woman from Tampa who rarely plays Lotto claimed the $12 million Lotto jackpot from the May 12 drawing at Lottery Headquarters in Tallahassee. Ellen L. Fox (56) chose to collect her winnings in form of a single cash payment of $6,459,377 instead of receiving 30 annual installments of approximately $400,000 each.

"I needed some change, so I went into a store and bought a cold drink, two Scratch-Off tickets, and one Quick Pick for Lotto," said Ellen, who works for a 7-Eleven store and as a school crossing guard. "I only play Lotto seldomly and just bought one Quick Pick to get some change. I won two dollars from the Scratch-Off ticket, but put the Lotto ticket in my car and didn't check it until after the drawing."

Ellen said she checked her ticket on the Monday morning [May 14] following the Saturday evening [May 12] drawing, when she heard on the news that there was one winning ticket which had been sold in Tampa. After verifying her numbers, though, the mother of two grown children and grandmother of three was still not convinced. "I still didn't believe I had won, so I called the store where I work and had one of my co-workers check the winning numbers on the Lottery terminal," she revealed. "After she told me, all I could say was 'Oh, my God!' My boss at the store called me and told me I was a Lotto winner. Then I called my son and he confirmed the numbers. I was in shock and hysteria."

Ellen stated that she hid her lucky ticket in her house for a couple of weeks while working with her attorney to set up her finances and a trust fund for the award. She arrived in Tallahassee accompanied by her son and two friends.

"I'll use most of my money for investments, maybe take a trip to Europe, and set up a college fund for my three grandchildren," Ellen indicated. "I may even open up my own retail store some day."

Ellen bought her lucky ticket at the Value Market, located at 12201 North Florida Avenue in Tampa. The store will receive a $10,000 retailer bonus from the Florida Lottery for selling the jackpot winning ticket.

Ellen is the 57^th Lotto winner to either reside or purchase a jackpot winning ticket in Hillsborough County, and the 686^th overall winner since the game began in 1988.

Tampa Resident Claims $7 Million Lotto Jackpot

NR 05-25-01 ... On Wednesday, May 23, a Tampa resident claimed the $7 million Lotto jackpot from the May 19 drawing at Lottery Headquarters in Tallahassee. Eddie Lee Mungin (33) opted to collect his winnings in form of a single lump-sum payment of $3,550,613 instead of receiving 30 annual installments of approximately $233,333 each.

"I went to the store on Saturday for my brother and me and bought ten Lotto Quick Picks for him and eight Quick Picks and two of my personal numbers for myself," said Eddie, who works as a supervisor for Robins Lumber Company in Tampa. "I didn't get a chance to check my tickets until Tuesday night and that's when I found out I won! It was one of my Quick Picks that won."

"When I saw I had all of the numbers, I called my mom and just started crying," Eddie conveyed. "I told her I was too scared to drive anywhere and asked her to come over and pick me up." Eddie’s mother, Hazel Flerijean, his brother and an uncle accompanied him to Lottery Headquarters to redeem his ticket.

Eddie, who had also won $67 in Lotto just two weeks ago, said he usually plays the game every Saturday night and sometimes on Wednesdays as well. Eddie currently lives in a one-bedroom apartment with his brother, but stated that they will probably be moving to a new house soon. The winner indicated that he wants to use his prize award to take care of his family, buy a new house and car, "and just live and be happy."

Eddie revealed that when he called his boss and told him he was a winner, his boss replied, "You've got to be one lucky guy. You better live a long time." Eddie stated that he doesn't know if he will quit his job because he enjoys working for his boss, who "always looks out for me and gave me a promotion recently."

Eddie bought his lucky ticket at the Star Food Market, located at 6904 North 56th St. in Tampa. The store will receive a $10,000 retailer bonus from the Florida Lottery for selling the jackpot winning ticket.

Eddie is the 56^th Lotto winner to either reside or purchase a jackpot winning ticket in Hillsborough County, and the 685^th overall winner since the game began in 1988.

NR 05-25-01 ... Added a new table with 35 never drawn two-number combinations to the Lotto Combinations page. A total of 1,343 two-number combinations have been "exhausted" in Lotto, but 35 combinations involving numbers 50 - 53 have not been drawn yet. Which are they? Check 'em out ... 

NR 05-25-01 ... Added a brand new Mega Money Rollovers page which exhibits a comprehensive table itemizing all Mega Money rollovers since 1998. Rollovers are shown by their duration and by the year in which they occurred. The color-coded table also reveals how many jackpots were claimed by how many winners per year. Furthermore, the M Roll page includes rollover ratio information and a Mega Money timeline. Rollover ratio data indicates the proportion of rollovers to draws for all years since 1998, while the Mega Money timeline presents all draws, rollovers and jackpot winners for 2001 in chronological fashion. The page link [M Roll] is displayed in the Mega section of the left-hand menu. Enjoy!

NR 05-20-01 ... Added new Rollover Ratio information and a Lotto Timeline to the Lotto Rollovers page. Rollover ratio data indicates the proportion of rollovers to draws for all years since 1988, while the Lotto timeline presents all draws, rollovers and jackpot winners for 2001 in chronological fashion. Enjoy!

NR 05-20-01 ... Two players with tickets from Clearwater and Pensacola win $82,418 each on May 19. This is the 27^th highest individual payout in Fantasy 5 history, and the 18^th time that two winners share a jackpot.

NR 05-19-01 ... Two players with tickets from Miami and Seminole win $88,825 each on May 18. This is the 20^th highest individual payout in Fantasy 5 history, and the 17^th time that two winners share a jackpot.

NR 05-18-01 ... One player with ticket from North Fort Myers wins $159,138 Fantasy 5 jackpot on May 17. This prize is the 7^th largest jackpot ever awarded to a Fantasy 5 winner, and already the 4^th individual payout to exceed $150,000 in 2001. On average, 8 people win a Fantasy 5 jackpot every night and collect around $19,500 each.

NR 05-14-01 ... Fantasy's 4/5 payout of $10.50 is the lowest in history. Previously, the lowest 4/5 payout had been $12.50 which was recorded twice, on 06-29-99 [with 2,706 winners] and on 09-19-99 [with 1,779 winners].

NR 05-14-01 ... Please note that Lotto draw information has been consolidated in the Archives section. In order to display a greater range per single page, Lotto draws are now archived by quarter [instead of by month]. Four yearly quarters are labeled with A, B, C and D, respectively. Thus, Lotto draws for the period Apr - Jun 2001 can now be found under L 2001b, while Lotto draws for the period Jan - Mar 2001 can be found under L 2001a. The same arrangement applies for the year 2000. Please update your URL links if you have bookmarked any of the "monthly" pages. Thanks!

A Brief History Of Mother's Day

NR 05-10-01 ... The earliest Mother's Day observances can probably be traced back to the spring celebrations of ancient Greece in honor of Rhea, the Mother of the Gods.

During the 1600s, people in England started celebrating a day called "Mothering Sunday" in honor of all the mothers on the island. Mothering Sunday was held on the fourth Sunday of Lent, which is the 46-day period beginning on Ash Wednesday and ending on Easter Sunday. In that epoch, many poor workers in England were employed as servants by the wealthy. The servants usually lived in the houses of their employers, as most jobs were located far from their own homes. On Mothering Sunday, the domestics would have the day off and so could return home and spend it with their moms. A special cake, called the "mothering cake", was often prepared and brought along to provide a festive touch.

In the United States, Mother's Day was first proposed by Julia Ward Howe in 1872 as a day dedicated to peace. Ms. Howe, who wrote the words to the Battle Hymn of the Republic, held organized Mother's Day meetings in Boston, MA ever year. A few decades later, Ana Jarvis from Philadelphia started a campaign to establish a national Mother's Day. In 1907 she persuaded her mother's church in Grafton, West Virginia, to observe Mother's Day on the second anniversary of her mom's death, which had occurred on the second Sunday of May 1905. Just one year after the West Virginia initiative, Philadelphia also adopted the commemorative event.

Following these efforts, Ms. Jarvis and her supporters began to write to ministers, businessmen, and politicians in their continued pursuit to establish a national Mother's Day. Their endeavor ultimately proved successful and by 1911 Mother's Day was celebrated in almost every state of the Union. In 1914, President Woodrow Wilson made the official announcement proclaiming Mother's Day a national holiday to be held each year on the second Sunday of May.

Throughout the 20th century, other nations of the world also began to embrace this anniversary. While several countries now honor their moms at different times throughout the year, some do celebrate Mother's Day on the second Sunday of May as well. These include, amongst others: Australia, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Italy, New Zealand, Turkey and many Latin American states.

New $10,000 Retailer Bonus Won By Publix in Brevard County

NR 05-08-01 ... Recently, the Florida Lottery instituted a new $10,000 bonus commission for retailers who sell Lotto jackpot winning tickets. Publix Supermarket of Satellite Beach, located at 1024 Highway A1A in Brevard County, became the first retailer to receive the bonus. The store sold the $10 million winning Lotto ticket from the 2 May 2001 drawing, which was claimed by Ina Pogainis (51), a resident of Wisconsin visiting her mom in Florida. Publix of Satellite Beach will put the bonus into its end-of-year profit-sharing fund for its full-time employees.

Florida Lottery’s new retailer bonus started on Wednesday, 2 May 2001, and will end on Saturday, 30 June 2001. The last time the Lottery conducted an incentive program for retailers was in October 1999. If more than one retail location sells a Lotto jackpot winning ticket, the $10,000 prize will be split among those locations, just like multiple Lotto winners share the total jackpot amount.

"The Florida Lottery is pleased once again to offer this cash bonus to our retailers across the state," said Lottery Secretary David Griffin. "This incentive will allow our retailers to share the fun and excitement of being a part of a Florida Lotto jackpot. Of course, without the 8,000+ online retailers who sell our tickets, the Florida Lottery would not be in business, and we would not be able to generate hundreds of millions of dollars each year for public schools in Florida."

The first retailer $10,000 bonus will be presented this week by Luann Machise and Patrick Arnoult of the Orlando District Office, which services Lottery retail locations in Brevard County.

Wisconsin Visitor Claims $10 Million Lotto Jackpot

NR 05-05-01 ... On Saturday, May 5, a Wisconsin resident visiting her mom in Brevard County claimed the $10 million Lotto jackpot from the May 2 drawing at Lottery Headquarters in Tallahassee.

Ina Pogainis (51) of Stevens Point, Wisconsin, opted to collect her winnings in form of a single lump-sum payment of $5,552,167 instead of receiving 30 annual installments of approximately $333,333 each.

"I went to the Publix store on Tuesday night and bought five Quick Pick tickets for the Wednesday drawing," said Ina, who was staying with her 85-year old mother at their duplex in Satellite Beach. "I didn't even check my tickets until Thursday when I saw in the newspaper that I had all six winning numbers. I didn't believe it until I called the newspaper and the Lottery's '900' phone number to confirm my numbers."

Ina, who works for the state of Wisconsin, stated that this was the first time this year that she bought Florida Lotto tickets. She indicated that she only plays Lotto when coming to Florida during her annual visits to see her mother, and that she just buys a few tickets each time.

"This was a gift from God. It was unbelievable that I won!" said Ina, who was accompanied to Lottery Headquarters by her 85-year old mother to claim her award. "I don't even have any plans for the money because it's too new."

"While in Florida, I like to go to the beach, swim, take walks in the forest and do yard work," said Ina. "The only person I told I won was my brother and he didn't believe me at first. This is because I have kidded him that when I win the Lotto, I will send him a postcard from where I happen to be. My mom got on the phone and had to convince him I had won."

Ina bought her lucky ticket at Publix, located at 1024 Highway A1A in Satellite Beach. The store will receive a just-instituted $10,000 retailer bonus from the Lottery for selling the winning jackpot ticket.

Ina indicated that she is planning to return to Wisconsin with her mother on Monday, and that she wants to continue working at her job for the time being. She has not told her employer yet about her good fortune and also needs some time to adjust to the new situation.

"This win is consistent with the lovely state of Florida and its lovely beaches. It's just too amazing. This has been such a surprise that it really doesn't seem real!" revealed the winner. "We've had a good time here every time we come. I don't even think I'll play the Lotto again. This is plenty, this is enough shock for a lifetime, thank you."

Ina is the 24^th Florida Lotto winner to either reside or purchase a jackpot winning ticket in Brevard County, and the 684^th overall winner since the game began in 1988.

Unclaimed $182,845 Mega Money Ticket Expires