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12/01

NR 12-30-01 ... One player with Pembroke Pines ticket wins $246,000 Fantasy 5 jackpot on Dec 29 !!! This is the 10^th highest individual payout in New Fantasy 5 history.

NR 12-21-01 ...  Winter Solstice ... The northern hemispheric winter begins on Friday, 21 Dec 2001, at precisely 02:12 pm ET. At that moment, the sun reaches its maximum offset of -23°27' from the celestial equator, a declination known as the Tropic of Capricorn. Since the sun will be at its southernmost point in relation to the earth on Dec 21, this will be the shortest day of the year [for everybody who lives north of the equator, that is]. Enjoy the season !!!

NR 12-17-01 ... One player with Tallahassee ticket wins $173,013 Fantasy 5 jackpot on Dec 16 !!! This is the highest Fantasy 5 payout and the first jackpot to be claimed by a sole winner in Leon County.

NR 12-16-01 ... One player with Cocoa ticket wins $6 million Lotto jackpot on Dec 15 !!! This is the 4th Lotto jackpot from Cocoa and the 22nd from Brevard County. It is also the 3rd Lotto jackpot registered in Brevard County in 2001 [2 from Cocoa and 1 from Satellite Beach], which is equal to the number of all jackpots registered in the district in the previous 4 years. Brevard County’s share of Lotto jackpot winners [22 of 705 = 3.12%] lies slightly above its proportion of overall Florida State residents [477,000 of 16 million = 2.98%].

Lotto Jackpots By City In Brevard County

NR 12-14-01 ... One player with West Palm Beach ticket wins $221,470 Fantasy 5 jackpot on Dec 13 !!! This is the highest Fantasy 5 payout and the first jackpot to be claimed by a sole winner in Palm Beach County.

NR 12-13-01 ... One player with Port Charlotte ticket wins $225,162 Fantasy 5 jackpot on Dec 12 !!! This is the highest Fantasy 5 payout in Charlotte County.

New York Retiree From Plantation Claims $14 Million Lotto Jackpot

NR 12-12-01 ... On Tuesday, Dec 11, a retired New York City hardware supply salesman living in Plantation claimed the $14 million Lotto jackpot from the Dec 8 drawing at Lottery Headquarters in Tallahassee. Leonard Rosner (72) opted to collect his award in form of a single cash payment of $7,808,748, instead of receiving 30 annual installments of approximately $466,666 each. He traveled to the state’s capital in the company of his son Mitchell.

Leonard moved from the Big Apple to Plantation 18 months ago, and almost quit playing the Lottery then. Prior to his move - while still living in the Empire State - he had played the New York Lottery for 18.5 years. Leonard indicated that for the past 20 years he has been using a combination of birthday and anniversary numbers, which produced the winning ticket [2 - 8 - 22 - 28 - 29 – 36] last Saturday.

"Now I'm glad we kept playing, my wife is glad we won, my children are glad, and our grandchildren will be glad we won," said the winner.

"My wife, Dorothy, saw the winning numbers in the newspaper Sunday morning and told me she thought we won the Lottery," stated Leonard. "After she called out the numbers from the paper, I told her I thought she was kidding me and to make sure."

Leonard then double-checked the numbers on the internet to confirm he had won the jackpot. "I was in a state of shock, but stayed calm. I was ecstatic when I found out I was the only winner for the drawing! My wife was just a bundle of nerves. She could hardly catch her breath."

"When I went over to their house for dinner on Sunday, my mom showed me their winning ticket," said Mitchell (42). "I almost fell off my chair! It's hard to believe it. They are two people who deserve to win it."

The Rosners, who have another grown child and two grandchildren, usually play $3.00 for the Wednesday and Saturday Lotto drawings, using three sets of their personal numbers. "We started using those same numbers in New York 20 years ago. I've been playing all my life and now I've finally won it!” Leonard expressed.

The winner said he plans to use some of his proceeds to take care of his immediate family, go on a vacation to Europe, and buy some property in New York City.

Leonard bought his lucky ticket at the Not Just Cards store, located at 7802 NW 44^th Street in Sunrise. The outlet will receive a $10,000 retailer bonus for selling the jackpot winning ticket.

Leonard is the 58^th Florida Lotto winner with a ticket purchased in Broward County, the 1^st winner with a ticket from the city of Sunrise, and the 704^th overall winner since the game began in 1988.

Haitian Immigrant From Pompano Beach Claims $11 Million Lotto Jackpot

NR 12-11-01 ... On Monday, Dec 10, a Haitian immigrant living in Pompano Beach claimed the $11 million Lotto jackpot from the Nov 24 drawing at Lottery Headquarters in Tallahassee. Louben Moncoeur (33), a plumber by trade, chose to collect his award in form of a lump-sum payment of $6,009,244, instead of receiving 30 annual installments of approximately $366,666 each.

"What can I say," expressed Louben, who has played Lotto since he came to the United States in 1993. "I just picked some numbers - just like that. I won!" The winning numbers Louben picked for the Nov 24 drawing, are: [1 – 3 – 8 – 15 – 22 – 26].

Louben did not redeem his award until now - two weeks after the drawing - in part because he was not initially aware that he was the winner. The winning ticket was placed with several other past tickets in the glove compartment of his car.

After checking the ticket and confirming the winning numbers with a store clerk at a Lottery retailer, Louben gave his wife Rita the good news. "She said we will never win, so I just gave her the ticket," he indicated. "There is no way to describe how she reacted!"

The Moncouers immediate plans for their newfound wealth are simple. "The first thing I will do is give money to build a church my pastor is working on. I also know my wife wants a beautiful house. Then the rest will come after," Louben said.

Louben also stated that the winnings will make it possible now for him to leave the plumbing business and return to school to pursue an education in agriculture. Nonetheless, for the past two weeks he has continued at his job because of the loyalty he feels to his employer, with whom he has been working for the last 3.5 years.

"He's the best employer I have ever worked for," Louben said. "I didn't tell my employer everything, just that I had to come to Tallahassee today. I'll probably work two more weeks - I just want to give them time to find another plumber."

Louben bought his lucky ticket at the 7-Eleven, located at 2391 North Dixie Highway in Pompano Beach. The store will receive a $10,000 retailer bonus for selling the jackpot winning ticket.

Louben is the 57^th Florida Lotto winner with a ticket purchased in Broward County, the 11^th winner with a ticket from the city of Pompano Beach, and the 703^rd overall winner since the game began in 1988.

NR 12-09-01 ... One player with Sunrise ticket wins $14 million Lotto jackpot on Dec 8 !!! This is the first ever Lotto jackpot from Sunrise and the 58th from Broward County. Sunrise thus becomes the 22nd city in Broward County to register a jackpot winner. Broward now ranks second in total Lotto jackpot winners, behind Miami-Dade [123], and ahead of Palm Beach [57], Hillsborough [53] and Pinellas [50]. Broward County’s share of Lotto jackpot winners [58 of 704 = 8.24%] lies somewhat below its proportion of overall Florida State residents [1.62 million of 16 million = 10.12%].

Lotto Jackpots By City In Broward County

NR 12-05-01 ... One player with Sanford ticket wins $142,396 Mega Money jackpot on Dec 4 !!! This is the first ever Mega Money jackpot from Sanford and also the first from Seminole County, which thus becomes the 34th Florida county [out of 67] to report a Mega Money jackpot winner.