News Releases

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NR 05-29-02 ... Two players with tickets from Live Oak and Quincy share $216,386 Fan 5 jackpot on May 28 !!! Each winner receives $108,193. The winning ticket from Quincy is the highest Fan 5 payout in Gadsden County.

Lakeland Man Claims $4.23 Million Lotto Jackpot

NR 05-22-02 ... On Tuesday, May 21, a man from Lakeland claimed the $4.23 million Lotto jackpot from the May 18 drawing at Lottery Headquarters in Tallahassee. Douglas Dean Thomas (44) chose to receive his award in form of 30 annual installments worth approximately $133,333 each. Higher-than-expected sales actually increased the previously estimated jackpot of $4.00 million to $4.23 million.

"My wife Ellena told me to check our Lotto tickets before we went to bed Sunday night, because we had not seen the drawing on TV," said Doug, who is a sales representative for Aramsco, Inc., a hazardous material supply company. "I looked at the ticket and it seemed to be the right numbers and it made sense to me, so here we are. We checked our ticket about 40 or 50 times before we finally smiled!"

"I choose my numbers using the ages of my three daughters, my wife's age and my age, plus my lucky number 22," Doug indicated. "Every year my daughters got older, I had to change our Lotto numbers, so this time it was our lucky year and my turn to win." The winning numbers are: [10 - 12 - 14 - 22 - 42 – 44].

"The day after the drawing before we knew we won, one of my daughters asked me if I would buy her a laptop computer if we won the lottery and another later asked if I would buy her a dolphin," Doug commented. "So after we found out we won, I took them back to the store and told one of them she could have her laptop because we DID win the Lotto, but I haven't decided about getting the dolphin yet."

Doug also revealed that, after finding out that they had won, one of his daughters wrote a poem which included the following lines:

"Hey mom, we won the lottery. Can I borrow a few bucks?
If we're not making money, we must be spending it. How?
The kids want $75 tennis shoes and $40 jeans.
Today: haircolor, makeup, clothes.
Tomorrow: cars, college, and weddings."

Doug stated that he plans to use some of his winnings to buy a snow cone stand for his wife, to get some items for their house and his daughters, and to save for investments. He also expects to stay at his job, at least for the time being.

"The only big thing that I won before this was a cloth calendar in the sixth grade and that only lasted for a year," Doug mentioned. "This Lotto jackpot will hopefully last 30 years. This will be much better."

"The thing that kept us playing all these years was seeing real people win it and knowing it's possible for somebody who's just a normal Joe like me to actually win," Doug observed. "Plus I think, in the back of my mind, I had a feeling I would win, and I did!"

Doug bought his lucky ticket at the Farm Store, located at 540 State Road 540-A West in Lakeland. The store will receive a $10,000 retailer bonus for selling the jackpot winning ticket.

Doug is the 23^rd Florida Lotto winner with a ticket purchased in Polk County, the 9^th winner with a ticket from the city of Lakeland, and the 721^st overall winner since the game began in 1988.

Tampa Woman Claims $11 Million Lotto Jackpot

NR 05-18-02 ... On Friday, May 17, a woman from Tampa claimed the $11 million Lotto jackpot from the Apr 3 drawing at Lottery Headquarters in Tallahassee. Marie Ada Benítez (60) chose to collect her award in form of a lump-sum payment of $5,706,318 before federal withholding taxes, instead of receiving 30 annual installments of approximately $366,666 each.

"I always buy my usual $5.00 worth of Lotto tickets for every Wednesday and Saturday night Lotto drawings and that's what I did for this drawing," said Marie, who is a homemaker. "I just play my own numbers that come to me after I say a little prayer. Up 'til now, the most I won was $42.00."

"I saw the winning Lotto numbers in the newspaper the next morning [Apr 4]," Marie remarked. "I just said to myself, 'Oh God, you've got to help me now.' I didn't tell anyone that I had won. After I realized what I had won, I felt sick for three days because of the excitement."

Marie indicated the next thing she did was meet with her family attorney to make plans for redeeming her ticket in Tallahassee. She also stored the ticket in a bank safe deposit box until driving to the state's capital yesterday. Marie did not tell anyone - except close family members - that she had won the Apr 3 Lotto jackpot until yesterday.

"I want to use some of my winnings to take a family vacation," Marie expressed. "I don't have any other plans for my winnings at this time."

Marie bought her lucky ticket at the Circle K store, located at 7220 East Hillsborough Avenue in Tampa. The outlet has received a $10,000 retailer bonus for selling the jackpot winning ticket.

Marie is the 54^th Florida Lotto winner with a ticket purchased in Hillsborough County, the 41^st winner with a ticket from the city of Tampa, and the 717^th overall winner since the game began in 1988.

Brevard County Registers 24th Lotto Jackpot

NR 05-16-02 ... One player with Titusville ticket wins $35 million Lotto jackpot on May 15. This is the 24th Lotto main prize won by a ticket purchased in Brevard County, and the highest Lotto payout registered in that district. It is also the third jackpot claimed by a Brevard ticket in the last 5 months. On 03-16-02, a ticket from Melbourne won a $12.5 million prize, and on 12-15-01 a ticket from Cocoa won a $6 million prize.

The city of Titusville also registers its third jackpot. On 05-28-94, a ticket from that location won a $7.02 million jackpot, and on 02-16-91 a ticket from that location won a $15.45 million jackpot.

Brevard County's share of Lotto jackpot winners [24 of 720 = 3.33%] now lies slightly above its proportion of overall Florida State residents [477,000 of 16 million = 2.98%].
 

Lotto Jackpot Winning Tickets Purchased In Brevard County  [1988 - 2002]

A total of 24 Lotto jackpot winning tickets have now been purchased in 12 different cities of Brevard County. The district currently ranks 9th among all Florida counties in total Lotto jackpot winners - behind Miami-Dade [126], Broward [59], Palm Beach [58], Hillsborough [54], Pinellas [50], Volusia [29], Escambia [28] and Duval [27].
 

Lotto Jackpots By City In Brevard County

NR 05-12-02 ... One player with Hialeah ticket wins $247,808 Fantasy 5 jackpot on May 11 !!! This is the 4^th highest Fantasy 5 payout registered in Miami-Dade County and the 145^th winning ticket from that district.

A Brief History Of Mother's Day

NR 05-10-02 ... 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.

NR 05-10-02 ... One player with Graceville ticket wins $216,894 Fantasy 5 jackpot on May 9 !!! This is the highest Fantasy 5 payout registered in Jackson County.

Fruitland Park Man Claims $12 Million Lotto Jackpot

NR 05-02-02 ... On Wednesday, May 1, a man from Fruitland Park claimed the $12 million Lotto jackpot from the Apr 13 drawing at Lottery Headquarters in Tallahassee. Milton C. Smith III (41) opted to collect his award in form of a one-time cash payment of $6,386,641 before 27% in federal withholding taxes, instead of receiving 30 annual installments of approximately $400,000 each. He traveled to the state's capital in the company of his wife Judy.

Milton, a service technician for a local telecommunications company in Fruitland Park and also an avid Harley-Davidson rider, bought his winning ticket in Fort Myers Beach. He and Judy (39), who works for a financial institution in Fruitland Park, had traveled to the resort town to celebrate their 16th wedding anniversary.

"We were staying in Fort Myers Beach for our 16th wedding anniversary and we stopped at a gas station the day of the drawing [Apr 13] so I could buy $5.00 in Lotto tickets," Milton said. "I usually play when the jackpot rolls over a few times and I just use Quick Picks for my numbers."

Milton bought his lucky ticket at the Citgo station, located at 19201 San Carlos Boulevard in Fort Myers Beach. The store has received a $10,000 retailer bonus for selling the jackpot winning ticket.

"We didn't find out what the winning numbers were until we got back to Fruitland Park the next day and picked up the Lotto numbers from a printout at a store," Milton commented. "I looked at my ticket when my wife got back in the car. I looked at the numbers and just fell out! I kept asking her, 'Is that right?'"

The couple then went home and started calling local newspapers to check the winning numbers and verify that they indeed had won. "We also heard on the TV news late that night the winning ticket was bought in Fort Myers Beach and I said 'Oh — that's us,'" Judy remarked. "We called a few close relatives to tell them the news and didn't get to sleep until around four in the morning."

Milton and Judy indicated that they both continued working as normal until traveling to Tallahassee to redeem their prize, and that they placed the winning ticket in a bank deposit box for safekeeping. The Smiths also sought professional advice from their attorney, a financial planner and a CPA in preparing for their future.

"We plan on using most of our winnings for investments," Milton revealed. "We also both plan to stay at our jobs. I also want to buy a classic 1970 Plymouth Superbird to restore in the future, and we may take a trip out West - where we have never been - later on."

After the couple claimed their prize, they immediately left on a planned vacation to a statewide Harley-Davidson rally in Alabama. Milton rides a Harley-Davidson Road King and Judy rides as his passenger. They are members of the local Harley Owners Group (HOG) chapter in Central Florida.

Milton is the 22^nd Florida Lotto winner with a ticket purchased in Lee County, the very first winner with a ticket from the city of Fort Myers Beach, and the 718^th overall winner since the game began in 1988.