Florida Man Claims $3 Million Lotto Prize

Oct 14, 2003, 3:44 am (Post a comment)

Florida Lottery

As the city of North Port grows by leaps and bounds, so will the wallet of one of its residents.

Philip C. Dalton, 61, of North Port, claimed his winnings Monday afternoon from the only winning ticket in Saturday night's Florida Lotto. He had purchased the ticket at the North Port Winn-Dixie, 14483 Tamiami Trail.

The estimated jackpot is $3 million.

The ticket was a quick pick, with the numbers 11, 16, 17, 38, 44, 50.

Dalton reportedly elected to take the lump sum payment of $1,936,082, as opposed to $100,000 a year for 30 years.

A winning Lotto ticket has not been bought in North Port since 1993, although a scratch-off ticket, "$1,000,000 Cash Spectacular," was bought two weeks ago at the North Port Shell. Englewood resident Rory Morris and his girlfriend, Gabriella Smarandache, who lives in North Port, opted for a lump sum payment of about $700,000.

Eighteen winning Lotto tickets have been bought in Sarasota County since 1988.

"The more people who live in an area, the more chances there is for a winning," said Florida Lotto spokeswoman Sheila Griffin.

Winn-Dixie gets a $10,000 bonus for selling the winning ticket.

Winn-Dixie spokeswoman Terry Derreberry said that anytime a customer wins big at the store, it is always a plus.

"It's always exciting when one of our customers wins like that," she said.

Derreberry said the $10,000 bonus will go back to the North Port store.

"It helps defray some of their costs for manpower and such," she said.

Sun-Herald

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