Florida's Biggest Lottery Winners
Winning a lottery jackpot is one of those things that nobody expects to happen to them. According to the Mega Millions® official website, you’re more likely to be attacked by sharks (1:11,500,00), be struck by lightning (1:14,600), giving birth to identical quadruplets (1:700,000), than win a Mega Millions jackpot prize (1:302,575,350). Yet, in spite of the less than favorable odds, some lucky Floridian lottery players were able to beat them and strike gold! Check out the stories of the state’s biggest winners!
1) $590.5 million - Powerball - May 2013
On May 18th 2013, Gloria C. MacKenzie, 84, of Zephyrhills broke records after she won the $590.5 million jackpot prize. At the time, it was the largest Powerball® jackpot in history and the largest jackpot ever paid to a sole winner. What makes this story even more incredible is that her win is thanks to a small act of kindness! As she was waiting in line to order her Powerball ticket, the woman in front of her graciously offered her to move in front of the line. Gloria’s numbers were picked using random selection, meaning that the woman who let her cut the line would have have been the winner!
2) $528.8 Million - Powerball - January 2013
After an endless number of suspenseful rollovers, the $1.58 billion jackpot prize was claimed by 3 winners, one of them being from Melbourne Beach! The lucky couple, Maureen Smith and David Kaltschmidt, decided to take home the one-time payment of $327 Million. The couple has set up a trust called the Nickel 95 Trust to help them manage their winnings. Apart from retiring, Kalschmidt plans on replacing his truck, while Smith didn’t have exact plans on what she wanted to do with the newfound wealth" I just know I want to help the special people in my life."
3) $451 Million - Mega Millions - January 2018
Shane Missler, 20, of Port Richey, won a $451 million jackpot in the January 5th 2018 draw! This enormous win made him not only a multi-millionaire, but also Florida's second Mega Millions, jackpot winner and the 4th largest jackpot winner in the lottery’s history. When asked about his big win, he didn’t have any specific plans and confessed: “I'm only 20, but I hope to use it to pursue a variety of passions, help my family and do some good for humanity,". He apparently wasn’t all that surprised upon finding out the good news, claiming that he had "a feeling" he would get lucky.
4) $396.9 Million - Powerball - January 2020
January seems to be a lucky month to win in Florida! The lucky player, Sheryll Goedert, 61, of Ocala, managing member of Vacation Life LLC, was awarded the state’s third-largest jackpot prize in the January 29th 2020 draw after a total of 24 rollovers. This massive top prize generated over $33 million for Florida’s Education Enhancement Trust Fund.
5) $207 Million - Mega Millions - March 2014
Raymond Moyer and Robyn Collier of Merritt Island claimed half of a $414 million jackpot awarded in the Mega Millions draw on March 18, 2014. Claiming their prize as the Cobie and Seamus Trust, the winners said that the prize would allow them to do all sorts of things including investing, traveling, and going to as many Notre Dame football games as they can. The winners chose to receive their prize as a one-time, lump-sum payment in the amount of $115,448,968.
As you can see, winning the lottery is totally possible! Since 1988, the Florida Lottery has paid more than $71 billion in prizes and made nearly 3,000 people millionaires, and you, too, have a chance at winning. Order your Florida Lottery tickets online! Choose your favorite state and multi-jurisdiction lottery games and join these draws with theLotter FL - the state’s leading online ticket-ordering service!