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Orlando Man Claims $28 Million Lotto Jackpot
Emiliano, a retired New York security guard who had moved to Orlando just nine months ago, arrived in Tallahassee yesterday at approximately 1:30 pm to redeem his winning ticket.
Emiliano was born in Puerto Rico and enjoys playing all the Florida Lottery games. In fact, he recently won $2,700 with Play 4. He stated that he chooses his own numbers - not relying on Quick Pick - by using a popular Cuban system where various symbols correspond to certain "lucky" numbers.
Emiliano saw the winning numbers on TV late on the night after the drawing, and waited until 6:30 am the next morning to call a friend and tell her that he had won the Lotto jackpot. Then he hid his ticket "in the house" until claiming the prize. Emiliano said that it has always been his dream to be in a position to help his family, and now his dream has come true.
The lucky ticket was bought at the Kwik Stop Food Store, located at 8700 East Colonial Drive in Orlando. The outlet will receive a $10,000 retailer bonus from the Florida Lottery for selling the jackpot winning ticket.
Emiliano is the 21st Florida Lotto winner with a ticket purchased in Orange County, and the 693rd overall winner since the game began in 1988.
Boynton Beach Restaurant Owner Claims Final 1/3 Share Of $3 Million Lotto
Jackpot
"I didn't check my tickets until the next day after the drawing because I was so busy at work," said Yim-Kuen, who was accompanied to the state’s capital by one of her two sons. "I looked in the Palm Beach Post to check my tickets, and when I saw the numbers, I realized I had the winning numbers. 'This is it!' I said to myself."
"I wanted to double check that I had won, so I sent my oldest son over to the store to check the numbers in a Lottery machine," indicated Yim-Kuen, who owns Fon Shan Chinese Restaurant in Boynton Beach. "When he returned, I checked the numbers again and again to make sure I was the winner. I also found out there were two other winners for that drawing."
The other two winners of the $3 million Lotto jackpot from the Jul 4 drawing are Roger Wohl (67) of Largo, who claimed his one-third prize share on Jul 6, and Mary Chadbourne (77) of Biloxi, who claimed her one-third prize share on Jul 13.
"We plan to use my winnings to pay off a hospital bill, for my kids' college education and save for retirement," Yim-Kuen stated. "I am really happy about this! I plan to keep working at our restaurant and keep playing Lotto, so I can win again."
Yim-Kuen bought her lucky Quick Pick ticket at the Publix Supermarket, located at 4753 N. Congress Avenue in Lantana. The store will receive a one-third share of the $10,000 retailer bonus from the Florida Lottery for selling the jackpot winning ticket.
Yim-Kuen is the 60th Lotto winner to either reside or purchase a jackpot winning ticket in Palm Beach County, and the 692nd overall winner since the game began in 1988.
Biloxi Grandmother Claims 1/3 Share Of $3 Million Lotto
Jackpot
"We didn't check our numbers until Friday night [Jul 6] after the drawing," said Mary, who was accompanied to Tallahassee by her husband Arthur (78). "I told him that we had just won the Lottery, and it was unbelievable at first. I was real shaky."
"I used the ages of my six grandchildren [16 – 18 – 20 – 21 – 25 – 27] to pick my winning numbers," revealed Mary. "I didn't think anybody would win the Lotto with those numbers, but I did! Not only did we win, but two others used the same numbers and won."
Three winning tickets shared the $3 million Lotto jackpot on Jul 4, each one receiving $1 million. The first winner to claim his award was Roger Wohl of Largo, who arrived in the state's capital on Jul 6. The third winning ticket, sold in Lantana, has not been redeemed yet.
"We don't intend to change our lifestyle just because we won the Lottery," said Arthur, a retired Air Force Colonel. "We'll probably use most of our winnings for investments, pay off some of our bills and maybe fix up our house."
"We just didn't get excited at first after we realized we won," stated Mary, a retired homemaker. "Just for safekeeping, I stuffed my winning ticket inside a picture frame at our house so I wouldn't lose it."
Mary bought her lucky ticket at the Food World store, located at 7859 Pine Forest Road in Pensacola. The store will receive a one-third share of the $10,000 retailer bonus from the Florida Lottery for selling the jackpot winning ticket.
Mary is the 29th Lotto winner to either reside or purchase a jackpot winning ticket in Escambia County, and the 691st overall winner since the game began in 1988.
NR 07-13-01
...
New Fantasy 5 Starts on Monday ... The
Florida Lottery officially announced today that a new Fantasy 5 game will start
on Monday, Jul 16. New Fantasy 5 is based on 36
numbers and replaces the current Fantasy 5 which, as some long-time players
might remember, had itself replaced an earlier version of Fantasy 5. According
to the Lottery, New Fantasy 5 will offer exciting modifications – including
bigger jackpots, increased lower-tier prizes, a “roll down” feature, and a free
Quick Pick ticket for matching 2 out of 5 numbers.
NR 07-09-01
... One player with ticket from St. Petersburg wins
$122,980 Fantasy 5
jackpot on Jul 8. This
prize is the 14th largest jackpot ever awarded to a Fantasy 5 winner,
and already the 6th individual payout to
exceed $100,000 in 2001. On average, 8
people win a Fantasy 5 jackpot every night and collect around $19,500 each.
Largo Man Claims 1/3 Share Of $3 Million Lotto Jackpot
"Somehow I knew I would win the Lottery," Roger said. "I came close back when the Lottery first started." Roger indicated that on one occasion in the early days of the Lottery he had a strong premonition that nearly let him to win a share of a giant Lotto jackpot. He said that he was about to go to a Lottery retailer to play the numbers that had "come to him" when reports of long lines for the large jackpot suddenly caused him to stay home and not play after all.
"That was the jackpot Sheelah Ryan won and I would have played the same numbers," he revealed, while sitting in the Winners' Lounge at Lottery Headquarters named after the deceased Mrs. Ryan. Mrs. Ryan of Winter Springs was the sole winner of Florida Lotto’s first mega-million jackpot worth $55.16 million on 3 Sep 1988. To this day, this is the third largest individual payout ever awarded in Lotto history. "I feel a very strong connection. I am thrilled! This makes up for the past disappointment," Roger said.
Roger, an avid golfer and champion as an amateur, selected the winning numbers [16 – 18 – 20 – 21 – 25 – 27] because they correspond to his age when he had especially good years playing. He stated that he plans to invest the money and use it to help the people and the animals he cares about.
Roger bought his lucky ticket at the C Mart convenience store, located at 10570
Seminole Boulevard in Largo [Pinellas County]. The
store will receive a one-third share of the $10,000 retailer bonus from the
Florida Lottery for selling the jackpot
Roger is the 51st Lotto winner to either reside or purchase a jackpot winning ticket in Pinellas County, and the 690th overall winner since the game began in 1988.
NR 07-06-01
... Mega Money's Quick Pick winning ratio stands
at 42.50% for the first six months of 2001, down from 65.12% last year. However,
Mega Money still maintains an historic Quick Pick winning average of 50.63%,
which indicates that more than half of all jackpot winners in the game have used
the Quick Pick option. The link [M QP] is
displayed in the
left-hand menu bar within the "Mega" section.
NR 07-06-01
... The
Fantasy 5 Quick Pick winning ratio now stands at 31.90%
for the first six months of 2001, which is the lowest level in its history, but still maintains an aggregate 8-year
average of 36.77%. Part of the reason for the lower than average ratio this year
might be attributed to the fact that draw # 2,153 on 02-19-01 only reported 1
Quick Pick among 144 winners. This is an unusually low number of Quick Picks for
an unusually high number of winners which, in combination, might account
somewhat for the
Cape Coral
Woman Claims $7 Million Lotto Jackpot
Debbie, a 30-year Sprint employee, checked her Lotto numbers on Sunday [Jul 1] morning in her local newspaper, but could not believe she had won. "I was in total shock — disbelief," she said. "I thought something was wrong with my eyes."
"I was cooking breakfast when she came in and said, 'Get your glasses and come in here!'" stated housemate Linda Sarazen, who accompanied Debbie to Tallahassee. "I always play the same numbers," Debbie revealed. "The 2, 3 and 7 are the birth months of family members, the 49 and 52 are my and Linda's birth years, and I don't know where the 30 came from."
To further confirm her winning numbers, Debbie called her sister, who had her husband check the numbers. Debbie then went to the store where she bought her tickets. "When they printed the winning numbers out, I started to believe it was real," she said. "Not in my wildest dreams did I think I would win the Lottery.”
“The clerk must have told everyone in the store she had won because they all jerked their heads around and stared when we drove off," Linda conveyed.
Debbie indicated that her primary plan for the money is paying off all her bills. She will also remodel her house and intends to keep her job and continue working. "I just want to get back to my quiet little life," she said.
Debbie bought her lucky ticket at the Hess Express convenience store, located at
1006 Del Prado Boulevard in Cape Coral [Lee County]. The store will receive a
$10,000 retailer bonus from the Florida Lottery for selling the jackpot
Debbie is the 21st Lotto winner to either reside or purchase a jackpot winning ticket in Lee County, and the 689th overall winner since the game began in 1988.
Milton
Man Claims $28 Million Lotto Jackpot
The
winner arrived at Lottery Headquarters in the company of Carol McCall, his
companion of 17 years. In a peculiar twist of events, just as Willie’s attorney
retrieved the winning jackpot ticket from an envelope, fire alarms went off in
the building, thereby causing a short delay in the processing procedure. After a
smoking air conditioner was attended to, however, Willie received his prize,
"We have come close to winning, but this time we had all six numbers," Willie said. "It's a very good gift, a good blessing."
Willie, a retired forklift operator, was already asleep when Carol viewed the televised drawing on Saturday, Jun 23. "I wrote the numbers down, but I didn't believe we had won because I thought I might have written them down wrong," Carol indicated. She then awoke Willie and they both watched the display of the winning numbers after the news broadcast. "I was shocked to find out we had all six numbers," she added.
Willie revealed that there has been a lot of speculation in the small town of Milton about who the winner was, including suggestions that a local minister had won the prize. "I guess I owe him an apology for not coming forward a little faster, but we wanted to take our time and make the proper preparations," Willie said.
The couple, who have 6 children and 24 grandchildren between the two of them, disclosed that they would make a generous donation to the church. "We are simple people, but we are decent Christian people," Carol said. "We've have been rich in our own way. Now we are money rich and we want to do some things for other people who need it."
Willie bought his lucky ticket at the Local Yokel convenience store, located at
the intersection of 5190 Ward Basin Road and U.S. 90 in
Milton [Santa Rosa County]. The store has received
a $10,000 retailer bonus from the Florida Lottery for selling the jackpot
Willie is the 3rd Lotto winner to purchase a jackpot winning ticket in Santa Rosa County, and the 688th overall winner since the game began in 1988.
NR 07-02-01
... An 805-draw analysis of Fantasy 5 playing activity per
day of the week shows interesting results. Which day yields the highest
average payouts ... ? Which day has the highest player activity ... ?