6 South Floridians become lottery millionaires in January

Jan 31, 2014, 8:48 am (37 comments)

Florida Lottery

By Nick Sortal

Six of our fellow South Floridians got lucky in January — they all became millionaires playing the lottery.

And that's twice as many big wins as we usually have. Last year about 2.5 winners a month came from Palm Beach, Broward or Miami-Dade counties.

January's newly minted millionaires were: a $12 million Lotto winner in Tamarac, a $3 million scratch-off winner in Miami Beach, a $2 million Mega Money winner in Miami and a $1 million scratch-off winner in Greenacres. Two others are millionaires over time: One scratch-off player won $2,500 a week for life and another won $1,000 a week.

But they aren't the only South Floridians in the money. We've also had two $500,000 winners: a Lauderhill woman who played Monopoly scratch-off and a Miami woman hitting Mega Money.

So why the sudden fortunes? One reason is a switch in games played, said Florida Lottery Secretary Cynthia O'Connell. Florida Lotto and Powerball used to attract about 80 percent of South Floridians' lottery spending, she said. Now scratch-offs are evenly split with Florida Lotto and Powerball. Scratch-off games don't often yield multimillion dollar jackpots, but the odds of hitting $1 million are better.

"As a result, we are seeing more winners, increased sales for South Florida businesses and more revenue for the state's education system," O'Connell said.

So what does a numbers guy make of our good luck? Jason Gershman, an associate professor of mathematics and statistics at Nova Southeastern University, agrees that six millionaires in a month certainly falls outside the norm.

But he cautions against concepts such as "hot streak" in random events, such as lotteries.

"A 'hot streak' such as this would be an illusion since true hot streaks don't occur mathematically," Gershman said. "No one area or one point of sale would be any hotter or colder than any other.

"There's no mathematical guarantee that more prizes will be paid out over the next few weeks and no mathematical guarantee that fewer prizes will be paid out [to compensate for the recent wins]."

Last year, the entire state produced 100 millionaires: 49 for Powerball, 28 scratch-offs, 10 Mega Money, seven Florida Lotto and six Mega Millions winners. About 30 of them were from Broward, Palm Beach or Miami-Dade counties.

Powerball has not had a South Florida winner since 2012. And Mega Millions, which launched here in May, has yet to yield the top jackpot to a Floridian.

The state keeps 50 percent of ticket sales from Powerball and Florida Lotto. In scratch-offs, players win 70 percent and 30 percent goes to the state. Statewide, scratch-off sales account for about 57 percent of all lottery sales.

Sun-Sentinel

Comments

mypiemaster's avatarmypiemaster

Way to start the new year. Congrats to all.

dallascowboyfan's avatardallascowboyfan

Congratulation to all the winners.....Hurray!

Win$500Quick's avatarWin$500Quick

I hope to be one in February. This is why I tell people to support their state lottery instead of only chasing Powerball and Mega Millions.

dpoly1's avatardpoly1

Thud

I knew that I should have moved to Florida!

golfer1960's avatargolfer1960

Quote: Originally posted by dpoly1 on Jan 31, 2014

Thud

I knew that I should have moved to Florida!

I hear ya Poly but your day is coming soon! Hang in there brother! I know you want to move to Vero Beach! I'm going to either Orlando, Miami or Vero. Yes Nod

fun in the florida sun

schmuckatelly's avatarschmuckatelly

Congrats to all. I hope to be one soon too.

CDanaT's avatarCDanaT

6 within 30 days of the new year.....SWWWWWWEEEET.....and just in 1 state

Hope all they naysayers are reading and paying attention. You, that focus on the odds can continue to do so, on the other hand, I will look at all the potential and be happy that I  have as good of a chance in my state as they did in theirs.

Gotta like it.

Hope we have an LP'er who wins big, soon !

sully16's avatarsully16

That is a great way to start the new year, Congrats to all the winners.Cheers

Win$500Quick's avatarWin$500Quick

Quote: Originally posted by CDanaT on Jan 31, 2014

6 within 30 days of the new year.....SWWWWWWEEEET.....and just in 1 state

Hope all they naysayers are reading and paying attention. You, that focus on the odds can continue to do so, on the other hand, I will look at all the potential and be happy that I  have as good of a chance in my state as they did in theirs.

Gotta like it.

Hope we have an LP'er who wins big, soon !

I Agree! Someone will win regardless of the odds.

RedStang's avatarRedStang

Their profits will be huge this year. It takes alot of players to get 6 winners.

rdgrnr's avatarrdgrnr

I bet most of 'em were bought at Publix.

I'm gonna make a pilgrimage to the one way out in Knoxville one of these days.

Then I'll win for sure.

It's a lock.

Shelby Mustang

Quote: Originally posted by rdgrnr on Feb 1, 2014

I bet most of 'em were bought at Publix.

I'm gonna make a pilgrimage to the one way out in Knoxville one of these days.

Then I'll win for sure.

It's a lock.

Not a bad idea sir, wasnt that old lady who won in FLORIDA who won the biggest PB jackpot bought hers at a Publix??

Win$500Quick's avatarWin$500Quick

Florida now has 7 millionaires in the month of January. Last night Florida had the only 5+0 winner in Mega Millions.

PaScratchAddict

Wonder how Pennsylvania compares anyone know?

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