About the Florida Lottery (2024)

Table of Contents
2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 FAQs

2010

Apr 12
The Florida Lottery opens its new Draw Studio, located at Lottery Headquarters in Tallahassee, FL. The new Draw Studio is home to the FLORIDA LOTTO®, MEGA MONEY™, FANTASY 5™, PLAY 4™ and CASH 3™ game drawings.

Aug 03
The professional football-themed Scratch-Off games, TAMPA BAY BUCCANEERS, DOLPHINS and JACKSONVILLE JAGUARS, go on sale. The partnership with these Florida professional football teams is the first of its kind in Florida Lottery history and is the first time a lottery offers games for three state pro football teams at one time.

Aug 23
The 1-OFF™ play style is introduced to CASH 3™, allowing players to miss their numbers by one and still have 26 more chances to win.

Oct 11
The Florida Lottery launches LUCKY LINES™, an instant-win game that offers players the opportunity to win big jackpot prizes without having to wait for a drawing. LUCKY LINES sales ended on May 14, 2013.

2011

Jan 11
The NBA-themed Scratch-Off games, MIAMI HEAT and ORLANDO MAGIC, go on sale, offering cash prizes of up to $100,000 and an opportunity to enter non-winning tickets in second chance drawings for a chance to win prizes ranging from VIP experiences to playoff fly away trips.

Feb 02
Governor Rick Scott appoints Cynthia F. O'Connell as the sixth secretary of the Florida Lottery.

Mar 21
The Florida Lottery launches a new $10 limited-time game, LUCKY 7 RAFFLE™, which offers the best odds ever to win $700,000 and awards more than 777 cash prizes on May 5, 2011. In addition, the first 100,000 LUCKY 7 RAFFLE tickets sold come with a free FLORIDA LOTTO® Quick Pick ticket good for the next available FLORIDA LOTTO drawing.

Dec 24
A $50 million FLORIDA LOTTO® jackpot is won, marking the 1,000th jackpot-winning ticket in the game's history. The ticket was claimed by Richard McMullen, of Tallahassee. The retailer who sold the winning ticket, Circle K, in Tallahassee, received a $150,000 bonus commission.

2012

Jan 04
POWERBALL® drawings move from Universal Studios Orlando to the Florida Lottery Draw Studio at Lottery Headquarters in Tallahassee.

Jan 15
Improvements are made to the multi-state game POWERBALL®, which include bigger starting jackpots, better overall odds and more millionaires. In order to offer these improvements, POWERBALL tickets now cost $2 per play.

Apr 20
Governor Rick Scott signs HB 843 granting the Lottery the ability to utilize Full Service Vending Machine (FSVM) technology. The 2012 Legislative Budget included an appropriation for an initial 350 FSVM's to be distributed across the state.

Aug 28
FANTASY 5™ numbers 01-03-05-07-09 produce 98 top prize winners, setting a new record for the most top prize winners in a single draw since the game matrix changed to 5 of 36 in July 2001.

Nov 28
The Florida Lottery breaks the all-time sales records for daily, weekly and November sales, as a result of the $587.5 million POWERBALL® jackpot, the highest in history.

2013

Jan 07
The Lottery kicks off the week of its 25th anniversary by unveiling a re-branded, re-imagined Florida Lottery that includes a new logo, a new website and a renewed commitment to raising revenue for education.

Jan 08
The Florida Lottery partners with the Florida Department of State, VISIT FLORIDA and the University of West Florida to commemorate Florida's 500th anniversary by launching a new $3 Scratch-Off game, FLORIDA TREASURE HUNT.

Mar 25
The Florida Lottery announces a new milestone of $25 billion in contributions to the Educational Enhancement Trust Fund in 25 years.

May 15
The Florida Lottery launches the multi-state game, MEGA MILLIONS®.

May 18
Gloria C. McKenzie, of Zephyrhills, wins the $590.5 million POWERBALL® jackpot, the largest POWERBALL jackpot in history and the largest jackpot ever paid to a sole winner at that time.

Jun 30
Fiscal year 2012-13 ends with sales of $5 billion, making it the highest sales year in Florida Lottery history. As a result, a record $1.4 billion in revenue was transferred to education.

Sep 09
JACKPOT COMBO is introduced, offering players the convenience of playing all three big jackpot games in a single transaction. JACKPOT COMBO players receive one $2 POWERBALL®, one $2 FLORIDA LOTTO® with XTRA and one $1 MEGA MILLIONS® Quick Pick ticket for the next available draw date.

Oct 19
Enhancements are made to the multi-state jackpot game, MEGA MILLIONS, which include bigger starting jackpots that grow faster, better overall odds and more opportunities to become a millionaire.

2014

Jan 19
POWERBALL® brings back the multiplier, offering Power Play® players who match 5 numbers a $2 million prize and multiplying all other non-jackpot prizes by 2, 3, 4 or 5 times.

Mar 14
Cobie and Seamus Trust Dated April 21, 2014 became the first MEGA MILLIONS jackpot winners in Florida. The winners split the $414 million jackpot with one other winner in Maryland.

July 2
The Florida Lottery launches the LUCKY MONEY™ with EZmatch™ Draw game. LUCKY MONEY™ replaced the MEGA MONEY game that ended on July 1, 2014.

2015

Mar 16
The 1-OFF™ play style is introduced to PLAY 4™, allowing players to miss their numbers by one and still have 81 more chances to win.

Apr 17
The midday PLAY 4™ winning numbers, 1-1-1-1, produce the highest payout for a single PLAY 4 draw, a record $5,005,025.

Jun 30
Fiscal year 2014-15 ends with sales of $5.58 billion and $1.5 billion generated for education, marking the fourth consecutive year of record sales.

Oct 04
Changes are made to POWERBALL® that include better overall odds of winning any prize, an increased third prize of $50,000 and a 10X multiplier being added to the 2X, 3X, 4X and 5X Power Play multiplier numbers available when the advertised jackpot is $150 million or less.

Nov 23
Governor Rick Scott appoints Tom Delacenserie as the seventh secretary of the Florida Lottery.

2016

Jan 13
A Florida ticket was one of three nationally to win the world-record $1.58 billion POWERBALL® jackpot. The jackpot prize was claimed by The Nickel 95 Trust. This jackpot rollover series generated more than $114.6 million for Florida's students and schools and created 18 new Florida millionaires.

Jun 30
Fiscal year 2015-16 ends with sales of over $6 billion and $1.6 billion generated for education, leading to a total of $30 billion in transfers to education since 1988. This marked a fifth consecutive record breaking year for the Florida Lottery.

Aug 01
The Florida Lottery introduces two new Draw games, PICK 2™ and PICK 5™. CASH 3™ and PLAY 4™ are rebranded to PICK 3™ and PICK 4™ to complete the daily game product line.

2017

Feb 17
The Florida Lottery joins the multi-state, CASH4LIFE Draw game, offering prizes of $1,000 a Day for life and $1,000 a Week for life, to complement the current product mix.

Apr 3
The 1-OFF® play style is introduced to PICK 2™ and PICK 5™ , now players can be 1-OFF any of the Pick game winning numbers and have 356 more chances to win.

Jul 10
Governor Rick Scott appoints Jim Poppell as the eighth secretary of the Florida Lottery.

Sep 01
The Florida Lottery launches the instant-win game Fast Play.

Oct 28
Changes are made to MEGA MILLIONS® that include jackpots starting at $40 million; improved overall odds of winning $1 million; an increased third prize of $10,000; and a new matrix of 70 white ball numbers to choose from and 25 Mega Ball numbers. Tickets increase to $2 per play.

JACKPOT COMBO players receive one $2 POWERBALL®, one $2 FLORIDA LOTTO® with XTRA and one $2 MEGA MILLIONS® Quick Pick ticket for the next available draw date.

2018

Jan 1
The Florida Lottery begins selling FLORIDA LOTTO® with EZmatch™ tickets, allowing players to win up to $500 instantly.

Jan 5
Shane Missler, 20, of Port Richey, wins the $451 million MEGA MILLIONS® jackpot, becoming Florida's second MEGA MILLIONS jackpot winner and the 4th largest jackpot winner in MEGA MILLIONS history.

Jan 12
The Florida Lottery celebrates its 30th anniversary by hosting a reception at Headquarters attended by employees, retailers and past secretaries. Featured speakers included a current Bright Futures student, past and present Leon County Teachers of the Year, and the Lottery's first Secretary, Rebecca Hargrove.

Jun 30
The Lottery continues to celebrate 30 years with more than $6.7 billion in annual sales, for fiscal year 2017-18; the highest in Florida Lottery history. As a result, a record $1.7 billion in revenue was contributed to education.

Aug 05
Evening draw times for the PICK Daily Games™ moves from 7:57 P.M. to 9:45 P.M. E.T.

2019

Jan 29
LUCKY MONEY™ Draw game ended.

Jan 30
The Florida Lottery launches the JACKPOT TRIPLE PLAY with Combo™ Draw game.

July 1

Drawings for CASH4LIFE® move from Monday and Thursday nights to daily drawings.

Nov 15
Governor Ron DeSantis appoints Randall Hunt as the ninth secretary of the Florida Lottery.

About the Florida Lottery (2024)

FAQs

What is the best scratch off in Florida? ›

At the top tier, is the $20 GOLD RUSH LEGACY. It has four top prizes of $10 million and 20 prizes of $1 million.

Which Florida Lottery are you most likely to win? ›

GOLD RUSH LIMITED

Yep, if you want the best odds of any Florida Lottery ticket, reach for the $20 GRL. The overall odds of winning something on this ticket is 1:2.65. This game has been out quite awhile, since September 20th of 2021, so I'm sure you've seen it before.

Who won the $5 million lottery in Florida? ›

MILTON, Fla. (CBS12) — A Florida man turned $20 into $5 million after buying a scratch-off ticket in Milton. The Florida Lottery announced on Friday that 63-year-old Bernard Waters bought his winning ticket from S Food Mart Three, LLC at 6025 Stewart Street.

What type of scratch ticket wins the most? ›

The most amount of wins came from the $1 scratch-off tickets, but that is because $1 tickets were the most common type of lottery ticket by a wide margin. The $5 tickets proved to have the highest winning percentage, which was 36.36 percent.

Where are the most winning scratch-off tickets sold in Florida? ›

Publix continues to sell most winning Florida Lottery tickets.

What is the luckiest state to win the lottery? ›

Delaware is the luckiest state in the U.S., according to CasinoUS. Ten people in the state have won the Powerball jackpot since its inception in 1992. Ratio of wins was 0.97 per 100,000 people.

Has anyone from Florida ever won the Powerball? ›

$215 million jackpot winning ticket sold in Florida. We have a winner! Someone in Florida woke up richer this morning after winning the $215 million Powerball jackpot in Monday night's lottery drawing.

Which lottery has the most payouts? ›

List of U.S. lottery drawings of $400 million or more (annuity value):
RankJackpotGame
1$2.04bPowerball
2$1.765bPowerball
3$1.602bMega Millions
4$1.5864bPowerball
44 more rows

Where are the most winning scratch tickets sold? ›

Convenience stores sell the most winning lottery tickets

From 2021 to 2024, gas station convenience stores were the number-one seller of winning lottery tickets, followed closely by independent convenience stores.

What place wins the lottery the most? ›

The Empire State has had the most national lottery winners than any other state, with 43 Mega Millions and 12 Powerball jackpots, according to Casino.org.

What is the best lottery to enter? ›

If you're looking for good odds and less competition, The Health Lottery is a great place to play. That is because the odds of winning the health lottery are 1 in 2.1 million. When deciding which lottery is the easiest to win, thinking about odds is a great starting point.

Does Florida release lottery winners names? ›

Florida only allows those who win $250,000 or more to be exempt from public disclosure for 90 days. After that, state law requires the winner's name, city of residence, game played, and date and amount won to be provided “to any third party who requests the information.”

What happens if you win the lottery in Florida? ›

Winners may choose to receive their winnings in annual payments. The number of annual payments varies by game. Jackpot prizes from Florida Lotto®, Mega Millions®, and Powerball® are paid in 30 annual installments.

What city in Florida won the lottery? ›

A ticket sold at the Publix on Biscayne Boulevard in Miami Shores, Florida matched all six balls in Monday's Powerball drawing to win the $214.9 million jackpot, according to the lottery website. The winner can also choose the cash option of $100.1 million.

What is the odds of winning on a scratch-off in Florida? ›

To start our investigation into this story we compiled the overall odds of all the scratch-off games the Florida Lottery offers and most are in the range of 1 in 3-point-something to 1 in 4-point-something. That's a better than 20% chance that you'll at least get your money back.

What lottery has the best odds? ›

THE BEST WORLDWIDE LOTTERY ODDS
WORLDWIDE LOTTERY ODDS
Swedish Lotto1:139,838,160
German Lotto1:139,838,160
Powerball (US)1:292,201,338
MegaMillions (US)1:302,573,350
15 more rows
Oct 11, 2022

Does Florida have a $100 dollar scratch-off? ›

The fourth new game, the $100 Loaded scratch-off game, allows players to win up to $5,000 instantly.

How much is a book of $5 scratch tickets in Florida? ›

Buckle up, sunshine seekers, because we're about to break down the cost of becoming Florida's newest lottery millionaire (emphasis on "wanting to be"). Here's the Skinny on $5 Scratch-Off Books: The Big Reveal: A book of $5 scratch-off tickets in Florida will typically cost you $25.

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