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Eight City Of Titusville Co-Workers Share $3.00 Million Lotto Jackpot

NR 03-29-03 ... On Friday, Mar 28, a group of eight City of Titusville co-workers claimed the $3.00 million Lotto jackpot from the Mar 19 drawing at Lottery Headquarters in Tallahassee. The group opted to collect its award in form of a lump-sum payment of $1,657,510 instead of receiving 30 annual installments of approximately $100,000 each.

Collecting the prize were winners Kenneth Briggs, Richard Galuppo, Charles Harrison, Zannie Henson, James Hunnewell, Kenneth Jacobs, Deborah Joyce and Jack Swalley - all from the Titusville area. Each player will receive an equal share of $207,189.

"It's not enough to quit work, but it will make life a lot more comfortable," said Zannie Henson, who - like all the members of the pool - works for the City of Titusville's Waste Water Treatment Department. "I think there will be a lot of new vehicles in the parking lot this Monday."

"I found out when I got a call in the middle of the night," stated Ken Briggs. "By morning, people were coming up to me congratulating me. I think the whole town knew about it by then."

The winning combination was not a Quick Pick. As was the group's custom, the numbers were self-selected and played for a "couple of months." The winning numbers for the Mar 19 draw are: [21 - 22 - 44 - 45 - 46 – 53].

When the lottery pool was started seven years ago, all the members worked at the same facility. Some members now work at different locations, but the pool was kept active nonetheless, with only one person dropping out - and that just two months ago.

The group bought its lucky ticket at the Spring Food Store, located at 6155 N. Courtney Road in Merritt Island. The store will receive a $10,000 retailer bonus for selling the jackpot winning ticket.

The 8 Titusville City group members are the 26^th Florida Lotto winners with a ticket from Brevard County, the 3^rd winners with a ticket from the city of Merritt Island, and the 754^th overall winners since the game began in 1988.

Total ticket sales for this jackpot generated approximately $1.9 million for public education in Florida.

NR 03-26-03 ... Citrus Springs is the 255^th Florida location to register a Fantasy 5 jackpot winner.

NR 03-24-03 ... Land O' Lakes is the 254^th Florida location to register a Fantasy 5 jackpot winner.

Opa-Locka Woman Claims $4.00 Million Lotto Jackpot

NR 03-22-03 ... On Friday, Mar 21, a woman from Opa-Locka claimed the $4.00 million Lotto jackpot from the Mar 15 drawing at Lottery Headquarters in Tallahassee. Debbie Shimhue (23) chose to collect her award in form of a lump-sum payment of $2,220,646 instead of receiving 30 annual installments of approximately $133,333 each.

Debbie said that her plans for the money are simple: "My one dream is to buy a house for my mother." She indicated that she buys $2.00 worth of Lotto tickets "every now and then."

Debbie bought her lucky Quick Pick ticket at the Kingston Market, located at 4120 NW 21^st Street in Lauderhill. The store will receive a $10,000 retailer bonus for selling the jackpot winning ticket.

When she saw the reaction of the clerk at the store who checked her ticket, she thought to be a winner.

"He looked at me and his eyes were about to bug out of his head," Debbie stated. "Then he put the "Winning Ticket Sold Here" sign in the window."

"I couldn't believe it," she added. "I couldn't eat, I couldn't sleep. I kept looking at the ticket again and again."

Debbie is the 62^nd Florida Lotto winner with a ticket from Broward County, the 2^nd winner with a ticket from the city of Lauderhill, and the 753^rd overall winner since the game began in 1988.

Total ticket sales for this jackpot generated approximately $2.7 million for public education in Florida.

NR 03-22-03 ... A $253,722 winning ticket from Ocala is the highest Fantasy 5 payout in Marion County.

NR 03-19-03 ... Bowling Green is the 253^rd Florida location to register a Fantasy 5 jackpot winner.

NR 03-19-02 ... Vernal Equinox ... The northern hemispheric spring begins on Thursday, Mar 20, at precisely 07:52 pm ET. At that moment, the sun crosses the celestial equator on its move northward to the Tropic of Cancer [+23°27' declination], which it will reach on Jun 21. Since the sun has a declination of 0 degrees on Mar 20, the night and day will be of the same length worldwide.

NR 03-14-03 ... One player with North Bay Village Quick Pick ticket wins $53.7 million Lotto jackpot on Mar 12 !! Higher-than-expected sales increased the previously estimated $50 million jackpot actually to $53.7 million.

North Bay Village is the 228^th Florida location to register a Lotto jackpot winner.

This is the first Lotto jackpot from Miami-Dade County since 06-08-02.

This is the 7^th highest individual payout in Lotto history.

Lotto Jackpot Reaches $50 Million After 8 Rollovers

NR 03-12-03 ... Florida Lotto's $50 million jackpot is currently the highest top prize in the nation - among 38 state lotteries, 2 multi-state lotteries and the District of Columbia.

This is the 20^th highest jackpot in Lotto history.

This is the highest jackpot since 12-14-02, when 4 winners shared a $104.85 million top prize [after a record 11 rollovers]. Each winner collected $24.21 million and 3 of them used the Quick Pick option.

In the event that Wednesday's drawing should produce a sole winner, s/he could either opt for a single cash payment of approximately $28 million or, otherwise, receive around $1.7 million annually over the next 30 years.

Ticket sales are expected* to be in the 20,000 per minute range this Wednesday [Mar 12] evening sometime between 5 - 8 pm ET. Typical Wednesday sales for a $5 million jackpot peak at around 6,000 tickets per minute.

To accommodate increased player demand, an additional 26 online game terminals have been installed at high traffic retail locations on the Alabama and Georgia state borders and in some urban areas.

This series of 8 rollovers will contribute approximately $36 million to public education in Florida.

NR 03-11-03 ... High Springs is the 252^nd Florida location to register a Fantasy 5 jackpot winner.

NR 03-09-03 ... The current 8-draw rollover series is the 4^th in Lotto history.

On 03-29-00, an 8-draw rollover series yielded an $81.60 million jackpot which was claimed by the "Whispering Pines Lottery Trust", a player pool composed of 11 workers from the Whispering Pines Nursing Center in New Port Richey. [The ticket was purchased in nearby Holiday].

On 07-22-00, an 8-draw rollover series yielded a $66.99 million jackpot which was claimed by the "Bent Pine Lottery Group Jackpot Trust", a player pool composed of 26 workers from the Bent Pine Golf Club in Vero Beach.

On 09-05-01, an 8-draw rollover series yielded a $56.37 million jackpot which was claimed by a pediatrician from Miami.

These three jackpots are the three highest individual ticket Lotto payouts in the history of the game.