The Florida Lottery began operations
in 1986. Its first game, Millionaire, was a simple $1 Florida Lottery
scratch-off. Millionaire was so successful that the lottery repaid its $15.5
million startup loan in 17 days. The lottery introduced its first draw games in
1988 and announced its plans to join the Multi-State Lottery Association in
2009 to launch Powerball with the optional PowerPlay. Over the years, the
lottery's portfolio has grown steadily to include Fantasy 5, Jackpot Triple
Play, and Mega Millions with the optional Megaplier.
Proceeds from the lottery go toward enhancing public education in the state. During each of the past 18 years, the lottery has generated more than $1 billion for Florida students and schools. Bright Futures Scholarship is a scholarship program in the state of Florida that is funded by the FL Lottery and was first started in 1997.
Learning how to play the Florida
Lottery is quick and straightforward. You'll find several games to choose that
allow you to select between two and six numbers. Drawings are held as often as
once a day or as infrequently as twice a week. The more numbers you match to
the drawing, the greater your prize could be.
You can also play scratch-off
lottery tickets. These games have instructions printed on the card that tell
you how many items to scratch off to reveal your prize.
The odds of winning the top prize in
the lottery are highest for games with lower winnings. You have 1-100 odds of
winning the top prize in the Pick 2, which is $50 for a $1 wager. Odds decrease
to 1-1,000 for the highest win on Pick 3, which is $500 for a $1 wager. The
odds are 1-10,000 for the Pick 4, in which you can win $5,000 for a $1 wager.
For the Pick 5, odds are 1-100,000 of winning $50,000 on a $1 wager.
·
Fantasy 5: 1-376,992
·
Jackpot Triple Play: 1-3,122,273
·
Florida Lotto: 1-22,957,480
·
Powerball: 1-292,201,338
·
Cash4Life: 1-21,846,048
·
Cash Pop: 1:15
If you're wondering when the lottery
drawing is, you'll need to start by checking which type of ticket you have. The
sales close and draws for Florida lottery games are as follows:
|
Game |
Sales Close |
Drawing |
|
Pick 2 Midday |
1:17 p.m. |
1:30 p.m. daily |
|
Pick 2 Evening |
9:32 p.m. |
9:45 p.m. daily |
|
Pick 3 Midday |
1:19 p.m. |
1:30 p.m. daily |
|
Pick 3 Evening |
9:34 p.m. |
9:45 p.m. daily |
|
Pick 4 Midday |
1:20 p.m. |
1:30 p.m. daily |
|
Pick 4 Evening |
9:35 p.m. |
9:45 p.m. daily |
|
Pick 5 Midday |
1:18 p.m. |
1:30 p.m. daily |
|
Pick 5 Evening |
9:33 p.m. |
9:45 p.m. daily |
|
Fantasy 5 |
10:40 p.m. |
11:15 p.m. daily |
|
Jackpot Triple Play |
10:40 p.m. |
11:15 p.m. Tuesday and Friday |
|
Florida Lotto |
10:40 p.m. |
11:15 p.m. Wednesday and Saturday |
|
Powerball |
10 p.m. |
10:59 p.m. Wednesday and Saturday |
|
Mega Millions |
10 p.m. |
11 p.m. Tuesday and Friday |
|
Cash4Life |
8:30 p.m. |
9 p.m. daily |
If you want to find out what were
the winning Florida Lotto numbers, you'll have to check the draw for that game.
You can check online or watch the drawings on TV. Wondering what are the numbers for your game? Watch the following
television channels:
·
Fort Myers: WFTX (FOX), WWDT (Telemundo)
·
Gainesville: WCJB (ABC)
·
Jacksonville: WJXX (ABC), WTLV (NBC)
·
Miami and Fort Lauderdale: WFOR (CBS), WBFS
(myTV), WLTV-TV (Univision), WAMI-TV (Unimas)
·
Orlando, Daytona Beach, Melbourne: WKMG (CBS),
WTMO (Telemundo)
·
Panama City: WJHG (NBC)
·
Pensacola: WFGX (MyTV), WEAR (ABC)
·
Sarasota: WWSB (ABC)
·
Tallahassee: WTXL (ABC)
·
West Palm Beach: WPEC (ABC), WWHB-TV (Azteca)
Florida has several lottery games
that you can play. For the Florida Lotto, jackpots start at $1 million and roll
through twice-weekly drawings until a winner is announced. The largest Florida
Lotto jackpot to go to a single winner was approximately $81.6 million in 2000.
Winning tickets are good for 180
days.
If your prize is $599 or less, you
can claim your lottery payouts at any Florida Lottery office retailer. You can
also mail your claim or drop it in the dropbox at any district office. To claim
a prize of $600 or more in person, you must make an appointment at the Florida
Lottery Headquarters or a district office. To claim winnings of $600 or more by
mail, include a copy of one form of identification and a completed prize claim
form with your lottery ticket. Send your form to:
Florida Lottery
Claims Processing
250 Marriott Drive
Tallahassee, FL 32399
To claim a prize of $250,000 or more, you must submit your prize claim form in person at the FL Lottery Headquarters in Tallahassee.
No unfortunately you cannot remain
anonymous in the state of Florida. By Florida law, the FL Lottery must provide
records of the winner's name, city of residence, what they won, when they won
it, and how much they won. The only information that is kept confidential is
you address and phone numbers.
Yes, there have been several people in Florida that have matched all of the winning numbers and have won jackpot lottery prizes. To learn more about Florida Lottery Winners go to https://www.flalottery.com/winners
The $800 million dollars Mega Millions jackpot was won by some lucky person in Sugar Land Texas. The winning ticket matched all six numbers in Tu