NR 02-23-02 ... One player with Miami ticket wins $670,668 Mega Money jackpot on Feb 22 !!! This is the 85^th time that a ticket from Miami-Dade County wins a Mega Money jackpot. Miami-Dade has the highest number of Mega Money jackpot winners among the 34 Florida counties reporting winners. Following Miami-Dade are Broward [39], Palm Beach [23], Pinellas [20] and Hillsborough [16] Counties. However, even though Miami-Dade has the highest number of winners, it "only" ranks 15th in terms of average payout per winner [$199,361]. Number 1 in that category belongs to Flagler County - with an average payout of $659,809 per winner [1 winner] - and Number 2 to Bay County - with an average payout of $480,504 per winner [3 winners].

NR 02-20-02 ... One player with Gainesville ticket wins $231,294 Fantasy 5 jackpot on Feb 19 !!! This is the highest Fantasy 5 payout registered in Alachua County.

NR 02-14-02 ... One player with Tavernier ticket wins $239,373 Fantasy 5 jackpot on Feb 13 !!! This is the highest Fantasy 5 payout registered in Monroe County.

NR 02-14-02 ... Mid-February was the traditional time in the Roman empire for young men to meet and court prospective mates. Thus began the custom of young Roman men offering handwritten greetings to the women they admired on February 14. As Christianity spread, so did the tradition, and soon the "modern" St. Valentine's Day card was born. One of the earliest was sent from Charles, Duke of Orleans, to his wife while he was a prisoner in the Tower of London in 1415. It is now housed in the British Museum. By the 17th century, handmade cards were oversized and ornate, while store-bought cards were smaller and expensive. The first American publisher of Valentine's cards was Esther Howland. Her elaborate lace cards of the 1870s cost from $5.00 to $10.00, with some selling for as much as $35.00. With the exception of Christmas, Americans exchange more cards on Valentine's Day than on any other day of the year.

Zephyrhills Man Claims $17 Million Lotto Jackpot

NR 02-12-02 ... On Monday, Feb 11, a retired professional truck driver from Zephyrhills claimed the $17 million Lotto jackpot from the Feb 9 drawing at Lottery Headquarters in Tallahassee. Jack Park (65) chose to collect his award in form of a lump-sum payment of $9,517,647 before 27% in federal withholding taxes, instead of receiving 30 annual installments of approximately $647,000 each. He traveled to the state's capital in the company of his son and daughter-in-law.

"Winning the Lotto feels unusual," said Jack, who has been playing Florida Lottery games loyally for several years. "I never thought I'd have this experience! The most I'd won up until today was about $40 playing Mega Money."

"I got up early Sunday morning and checked my Lotto numbers in the newspaper like I normally do," indicated Jack, who retired from Yellow Freight Truck Systems six years ago.

"I looked at the numbers and said to myself 'I got four numbers, I got five numbers, I can't believe I've got all six numbers!' Then I fired up my computer and checked the numbers on the Lottery's web page. I must have checked the numbers a half-dozen times."

"Later I called my son Sam (39) and his wife Lesha (35), and they finally believed me," the winner remarked. "I then put the ticket in my lockbox at home until we drove up today."

Jack mentioned that he wants to use some of his winnings to buy a new motor home, a van, a new house, a new boat, and to take a family vacation in Washington D.C. to visit the Smithsonian Museum.

Jack bought his lucky ticket - one of three that he purchased for the Feb 9 drawing - at the Rightway Foods Store, located at 4334 Gall Boulevard in Zephyrhills. The outlet will receive a $10,000 retailer bonus for selling the Lotto jackpot winning ticket. Jack used Quick Pick to select his winning numbers.

Jack is the 14^th Florida Lotto winner with a ticket purchased in Pasco County, the 2^nd winner with a ticket from the city of Zephyrhills, and the 711^th overall winner since the game began in 1988.

NR 02-10-02 ... The Feb 9 jackpot of $17.00 million is the second from Zephyrhills. Previously, a jackpot worth $5.36 million [on 09-05-98] was claimed with a sole winning ticket from Zephyrhills. Altogether, 14 Lotto jackpot winning tickets have now been purchased in 9 different cities in Pasco County, which represents a share of 1.97% [= 14 of 711] of all Lotto jackpot winning tickets. This share is slightly below Pasco's proportion of overall Florida State residents [350,000 of 16 million = 2.19%].

Lotto Jackpots By City In Pasco County

NR 02-07-02 ... Two players with tickets from Miami and Sarasota share $242,714 Fantasy 5 jackpot on Feb 6 !! Each winner receives $121,357. The winning ticket from Sarasota is the highest Fantasy 5 payout registered in Sarasota County.