Florida Lottery

March 1, 2016January 9, 2018 Kamal Kaur

Do you know that Florida Lottery in USA offers seven lottery games that are quite famous and popular to be played in the states? The games like Powerball; Florida Lotto; Cash 3; Play 4; Fantasy 5; Lucky Money and Mega Millions are the ones that players look for. The Florida Lottery is a government-run organization in the state of Florida, USA. With numerous on-line and scratch-off games available, players have a wide variety of prize levels to choose from.

Few Facts of Florida Lottery

The lottery’s first game, MILLIONAIRE was a $1 scratch-off that was immensely popular.
The Florida Lottery began operation on January 12, 1988 by order of a constitutional amendment
Sheelah Ryan of Winter Springs, won the largest single lottery jackpot of $55.16 million. She was the 10th Florida Lotto winner. As the Florida Lotto cash option was still 10 years away she died before receiving all her winnings.
The first $100 million Florida Lotto jackpot was for the drawing on September 14, 1990.
In 1991, a daily four-number on-line game, Play 4, was introduced on July 4, with a top prize of $5,000.
December 1991 saw the advent of “Florida Lotto Month”, where minimum jackpots and rollovers were guaranteed at $10 million for the Christmas season.
On September 27, 1993, the first $2 Scratch-Off game, Bingo, was introduced. Through variants, it is the longest-running Scratch-Off game by the Florida Lottery.
On January 24, 1994, Fantasy 5 expanded to Mondays through Fridays.
On May 22, 1994, the first Florida Lotto mail-in promotion began where losing tickets could be mailed in for a prize.
In October 1995, the Florida Lottery launched Flamingo Fortune, a game show where people who sent in losing Scratch-Off tickets were selected to play for prizes.
On February 28, 1996, Barbara Arens of Clearwater was announced as the first winner of the Win for Life $2 scratch-off. She is receiving $1000 per week for life, paid in annual installments of $52,000, with a guarantee of $1 million.
The 500th Florida Lotto drawing occurred on November 29, 1996, with a jackpot of US$26 million. It rolled over twice before being won by PAPI-AMOR Partnership of Lake Worth.
On February 25, 1998, Mega Money began, a four-plus-one numbers drawing game played every Tuesday and Friday with jackpots in the hundreds of thousands of dollars
Later in 1998, Florida Lotto began its cash option. The annuity, now optional, was lengthened to 30 annual payments. (Unlike with most other U.S. lotteries, a winner desiring the cash option must claim within 60 days of the drawing, instead of the more usual 60-day period after claiming.)
On September 8, 2003, the largest unclaimed ticket in the Lottery’s 15-year history expired after the 180-day deadline with no one claiming the ticket. The Florida Lotto ticket was worth an estimated $53.7 million ($30.1 million cash).
In 2008 Florida joined Powerball game
On February 28, 2013 Florida became the 43rd state to join Mega Millions.

How to play Florida Lotto?

Select six numbers from 1 through 53, or mark the QP (Quick Pick) box in the panel and let the terminal randomly pick some or all of your numbers.
To multiply your winnings on non-jackpot cash prizes, select the XTRA box. XTRA costs $1 more per play. Florida Lotto with XTRA tickets will display “XTRA YES”.
The XTRA box applies to all panels, Advance Plays and Quick Picks played on the playslip.
To play the same numbers for more than one draw, simply tell the retailer how many advance draws you wish to play or select the number of draws in the Advance Play section of your playslip.

Give your completed playslip and payment to the retailer. You will receive a ticket printed with your numbers, draw date(s) and the total cost of the ticket. You should check for the accuracy of the ticket before you leave the store.
Check the official drawing results to see if you’re a winner! Draw results are available at authorized Florida Lottery retailers and at Florida Lottery website or by calling (850) 921-PLAY (7529). You may also watch the drawing sonline.
Drawings are held Wednesday and Saturday nights at 11:15 p.m., Eastern Time. Tickets can be purchased until 10:40 p.m., Eastern Time, on the night of the draw. Tickets purchased after 10:40 p.m. will be for the next draw.
If you claim a prize on a winning Advance Play ticket before all of the draws on the ticket have occurred, you will be issued a continuation ticket for the remaining draws with the same play numbers as the original ticket.
All prizes must be claimed within 180 days of the applicable draw date.
You will have to buy Florida Lotto ticket online at the lottery website or at Lotter.com if you wish to play online.

What is XTRA in Florida Lotto?

XTRA is a special feature that allows players to multiply their non-jackpot cash prizes by two, three, four or five times the original prize amount! A player must choose the XTRA option on his/her Florida Lotto playslip or tell the retailer that he/she wishes to purchase a Florida Lotto with XTRA ticket. Florida Lotto with XTRA tickets cost an additional $1 per play.

Florida Lotto with XTRA players who match three of six winning numbers will win a minimum of $25, the 3-of-6 prize multiplied by five, regardless of the multiplier selected for that drawing.

What are the Overall Odds?

How to win Florida Lotto?

The Florida Lottery holds official Florida Lotto drawings in which six out of 53 numbers are drawn at random. If your six numbers match the six winning numbers drawn in the official drawing for the date played, you win the Florida Lotto jackpot. Match three, four or five of the winning numbers to win other cash prizes.
The XTRA multiplier number is selected at random, from 2 through 5, before each drawing. If a Florida Lotto with XTRA player matches three, four or five winning numbers, he/she wins an amount equal to the original prize amount multiplied by the multiplier that was drawn before the drawing. If the player matches just two winning numbers, he/she wins a free Florida Lotto ticket for the next available draw.
Players may choose to receive their portion of the Florida Lotto jackpots in a one-time Cash Option payment or in 30 annual payments. The Cash Option payment is the amount required on the day of the drawing (or if the drawing is held on a Saturday or holiday, the business day prior to the drawing) to fund the applicable jackpot prize paid over 30 years, less applicable taxes. Florida Lotto Jackpot winners who want to receive a single Cash Option payment must claim their prizes within the first 60 days of the 180-day redemption period.

How to claim the prizes?

In case you win the Florida Lotto lottery you have to first sign your ticket at the back. This will help prevent someone else from claiming a prize on your Florida Lottery ticket if it is lost or stolen, or if someone tries to scratch out, white out or change your signature.
All Terminal game prizes must be claimed at a Florida Lottery retailer or Florida Lottery district office on or before the 180th day after the winning drawing.
All Scratch-Off game prizes must be claimed at a Florida Lottery retailer or Lottery office on or before the 60th day after the official end of the game.
For faster payment, Florida Lottery winners should complete the information on the back of their winning ticket and take it to any retailer for validation. The ticket issued is the only valid receipt for claiming a prize.
General questions about claiming prizes may be answered by Florida Lottery district offices, the Player Information Line at (850) 487-7787, or by contacting Customer Service Office.

Where to claim the prizes?

Prizes of less than $600 may be claimed at any authorized retailer, district offices, or at Lottery headquarters in Tallahassee.
Prizes of less than $600 do not require the completion of a Florida Lottery Winner Claim Form, unless the player is specifically directed by either a Florida Lottery retailer or a Florida Lottery official to file a claim.
Prizes of $600 to $250,000 may be claimed at any Florida Lottery district office or at Florida Lottery headquarters in Tallahassee in person.
MEGA MILLIONS and POWERBALL may be claimed at any Florida Lottery district office or at Florida Lottery headquarters in Tallahassee. All other prizes greater than $250,000 must be claimed at Florida Lottery headquarters in Tallahassee.
For prizes with an annuity option, players should arrive at Lottery headquarters in Tallahassee by 2:00 PM for sufficient processing time the same day.
Players should call the Player Information Line at (850) 487-7787 or TDD (850) 487-7784 for instructions and assistance.
To claim the prize by mail all winning tickets of $250,000 or less may be mailed to the Florida Lottery for prize payment.To claim your prize by mail, simply mail the ticket(s) and the documentation to:

Florida Lottery
Claims Processing
250 Marriott Drive
Tallahassee, FL 32399-9939

What are the documents required to claim prizes?

Present one form of identification that is current or was issued within the past five years and bears a serial number or other identifying number. Acceptable forms of identification include:

An identification card or driver’s license issued by a public agency authorized to issue driver’s licenses in Florida, a state other than Florida, a territory of the U.S., Canada, or Mexico.
A passport issued by the U.S. Department of State.
A passport issued by a foreign government if the document is stamped by the United States Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services.
An identification card issued by any branch of the U.S. armed forces.
An identification card issued by the United States Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services.

What are Prize Options?

You can have prizes in the form of Annuities or cash.

Annuities

Florida Lotto, Mega Millions and Powerball jackpot prizes may be paid in 30 annual instalments, and Lucky Money jackpot prizes may be paid in 25 annual instalments.

Cash option

Florida Lotto, Mega Millions, Powerball and lucky money also certain Scratch-Off games offer a Cash Option method of payment – a one-time, lump-sum payment that jackpot winners may choose to receive instead of receiving their winnings in annual payments. Payment may be made by check or by wire transfer to a bank or brokerage account in the winner’s name.

Will the prizes be taxed?

Appropriate federal income taxes will be withheld from both Cash Option and annual payments at the time payments are made. If a Florida Lottery prize winner is a U.S. citizen or resident alien with a Social Security number, the Internal Revenue Service requires the Florida Lottery to withhold 25 percent federal withholding tax from prizes greater than $5,000.

If the prize winner is a U.S. citizen or resident alien who does not have a Social Security number, the Florida Lottery is required to withhold 28 percent federal withholding tax from any prize of $600 or more.
For non resident aliens, the Florida Lottery is required to withhold 30 percent federal withholding tax from all prize amounts.
The Internal Revenue Service requires the Florida Lottery to report all winnings of $600 or more for U.S. citizens and resident aliens.
For information on Lottery prizes and your Federal tax obligations visit: irs.gov.
All Florida MEGA MILLIONS and POWERBALL prizes must be claimed in Florida.

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