Five Florida Jackpot Winners In Two-Week Span

HAINES CITY, FL — First, Florida Lottery officials announced on July 12 that 75-year-old Amelia Garritani of Pasco County had won the top prize in the $1,000 A Week For Life Scratch-Off game.

Next, 75-year-old Sarasota newlywed Stephen Lyons scratched off his $1 million top prize in the $5 Monopoly Jackpot Scratch-Off game on July 14.

Three days later lottery officials announced on July 17 that 51-year-old Gregory Montgomery of Tampa claimed the very first top prize in the new $2,500 A Week For Life Scratch-Off game. He chose to receive his winnings as a one-time, lump-sum payment of $2,015,000.

Next, Wadsonley Lubin of Lakeland celebrated his 29th birthday earlier this week by opting for a one-time, lump-sum payment of $710,000 on Tuesday from his $20 Gold Rush Classic Scratch-Off ticket. His birthday was four days earlier.

Finally, state lottery officials announced Thursday that 22-year-old Ana Beltran of Haines City cashed in her $1 million top prize from the $5 Gold Rush Classic Scratch-Off game. Beltran chose to receive her winnings in annual installments of $40,000 a year for 25 years.

See also:

• Lakeland Man Gets $1 Million Birthday Present
• 75-Year-Old Florida Newlywed Hits Lotto And Wins At Life

That adds up to five Florida jackpot winners within a two-week period — but wait —there's more:

Each of the winners lives within about 100 miles of each other as crows fly.

Lakeland and Haines City are about 23 miles apart in Polk County while Lakeland and Haines City are about 82 and 107 miles away from Sarasota respectively. Tampa is about 60 miles away from each of those cities while Hudson is around 91 miles from Haines City, 81 miles from Sarasota and 42 miles from Tampa.

Florida Lottery spokeswoman Lizeth George told Patch that the number of winners in a given area tends to reflect ticket sales.

"As more tickets are sold in an area, the probability of winners for that area increases," she explained. "While the popularity of Florida Lottery players may vary from one region of the state to another, historically the proportion of winning tickets in a region matches up well with that region's share of the population and ticket sales."

Beltran purchased her winning ticket from J & S Food Mart at 3084 Hinson Avenue in Haines City. The retailer will receive a $2,000 bonus commission for selling the winning scratch-off ticket as will the retailers who sold the other winning tickets.

All of the winners won playing a scratch-off ticket. Scratch-offs account for roughly 69 percent of Florida Lottery ticket sales.

Lyons told Patch that he texted the photo of his winning ticket to his new bride, who was at work as an executive chef at the time.

"She texted back saying 'are you kidding?'"