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Lottery winner plans to breathe new life into historic neighborhood that time forgotNews Story
Fort Lauderdale is a long way from Memphis. But lottery winner-turned-developer Miguel Pilgram, 50, wants to bring a little Memphis Blues to Fort Lauderdale's historic Sistrunk Boulevard. And that's not all. His three-phase plan representing a total investment of $19 million would transform the area like never before, establishing a performing-arts hub meant to revitalize a neighborhood that time forgot. Pilgram, a dynamic entrepreneur who spent his childhood in Memphis, has already
Sep 15, 2019, 10:25 am - Lottery News

Florida Lottery admits error, winner collects two years laterNews Story
Includes video report A Florida man finally has his lottery prize after a local media investigation exposed a state error. I can't believe I have the money, Joel Strickland of Winter Haven said. When Strickland won $1,000 in the lottery in 2017, state officials seized the money, saying he owed the state $5,300 to settle an old unemployment fraud claim. Strickland insisted there was an error and that he didn't owe anything, but the state's case was closed. Officials not only took his
Aug 26, 2019, 9:08 pm - Lottery News

Florida mom, son arrested hours after claiming $20K lottery prizeNews Story
A woman was overjoyed after winning a $20,000 lottery prize Tuesday afternoon, but her celebratory mood soured a couple hours later after she and her son were arrested on drug charges, according to the Volusia County Sheriff's Office. Migdalia Cruz, 59, and Luis Correa, 39, were arrested on heroin-related charges while Correa's girlfriend, Dana LaFlamme, 34, was arrested on a probation violation. The Volusia County Sheriff's Office showed up at Cruz's home on Howland Boulevard in Deltona w
Jul 25, 2019, 7:44 pm - Lottery News

Florida grandmother says state agency's mistake cost her lottery winningsNews Story
Includes video report Bobbi Segel said she can still remember the feeling she had scratching off the winning lottery ticket. According to my children, I sounded like a teenager in high school squealing at her prom date, Segel said. Segel said she was hoping to use $1,000 she won on an upcoming family trip she had already planned. I thought, 'Woo hoo! Vacation! Party! Key West, Segel said. That was all that was going through my mind at the time of winning that lottery. She also
Jul 9, 2019, 11:49 am - Lottery News

Florida Gov. vetoes bill to require warnings on lottery ticketsNews Story
A bill that would have required warnings on all Florida Lottery tickets will not become a law. Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis vetoed the bill Friday. (See Florida lawmakers want to slap addiction warning notices on every lottery ticket, Lottery Post, May 2, 2019.) In a memo that accompanied the veto, DeSantis explained that Florida Lottery revenue goes to public education and that an agency analysis showed the bill could lead to a minimum $79.4 million reduction in education funding. A
Jun 28, 2019, 10:59 pm - Lottery News

Florida Lottery issues last-minute challenge to 'addictive' warning labels on ticketsNews Story
The Florida Lottery wants another look at the potential impact on education funding from legislation that would require slapping gambling-addiction warning labels on the front of tickets and ads. Gov. Ron DeSantis is getting closer to deciding whether to approve the bill (HB 629), which passed the House and Senate in early May. An initial projection about the bill's impact on education funding was made in March. But, appearing this week before state economists, Florida Lottery Director of
Jun 13, 2019, 9:43 pm - Lottery News

Florida Lottery winner of $1M among suspects rounded up in major drug bustNews Story
Just days before Mother's Day in 2018, a pregnant woman in Volusia County went to Tallahassee to smile for the Florida Lottery cameras. That woman, Karlee Harbst, had won $1 million in the $5,000,000 Gold Rush Doubler game. She was on what gamblers call a roll she had won $100 in the same scratch-off game just a week before. The wins capped a troubled past for the Florida woman who had already racked up a number of drug possession arrests, petit theft, contempt of court and driving with
May 20, 2019, 10:54 am - Lottery News

World Lottery Association president urges veto of warning labelsNews Story
Florida's first lottery secretary called on Gov. Ron DeSantis to veto legislation placing warning labels on tickets. Rebecca Paul Hargrove, now president of the World Lottery Association, said Florida could set an unfortunate precedent. Should the bill (HB 629) become law, it could hurt lottery-funded programs nationwide. The instant scratch-off games have been around for over 45 years, and sales of these games continue to grow every year, Hargrove wrote in a letter to DeSantis, but more
May 20, 2019, 9:45 am - Lottery News

Florida lawmakers want to slap addiction warning notices on every lottery ticketNews Story
Yet alcohol is warning-free? Booze and beer don't carry similar cautions, but some Republican lawmakers want people playing the state lottery to be warned that the games may be addictive. With the 2019 legislative session in its final days, the Senate is considering a proposal that would require all lottery tickets to include a warning, which also would be part of any advertisements for the state-sponsored games. The bill would require the tickets and promotions to include the words: Wa
May 2, 2019, 8:53 am - Lottery News

Florida's biggest Powerball winner sues her own son after winnings squanderedNews Story
Gloria C. Mackenzie became the largest sole lottery winner in U.S. history in mid-2013 when the then 84-year-old took home about $278 million after taxes on a $590 million Powerball ticket she bought at a Zephyrhills Publix supermarket. Five years later she sued her son Scott Mackenzie, who was her caretaker and the one who had total control over millions of dollars in winnings, saying he and his investment manager each lived off the money while poorly investing the proceeds, according to her
Apr 11, 2019, 4:02 pm - Lottery News