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Wewa man wins $1 million, takes $700K
The Florida Lottery announced Monday that Leroy Brake, of Wewahitchka, claimed a $1 million prize from the $15 million Gold Rush Special Edition Scratch-Off game at Florida Lottery Headquarters in Tallahassee.
He chose to receive his winnings as a one-time, lump-sum payment of $700,000.
Brake said he feels blessed to have won a life-changing amount of money.
"I plan to give back to my community which has helped me through so much," he told the Lottery. "I want to donate some of my winnings to my church to help others in need."
Brake purchased his winning ticket from AMI 69 Food Mart, at 213 South Highway 71 in Wewahitchka. The retailer will receive a $2,000 bonus commission for selling the winning Scratch-Off ticket.
The $15 million Gold Rush Special Edition Scratch-Off game, launched in Feb. 2019, features six top prizes of $15 million – the largest Scratch-Off top prize offered by the Florida Lottery.
The game also offers 24 prizes of $1 million. The game's overall odds of winning are one-in-2.60.
Scratch-Off games are an important part of the Lottery's portfolio of games, comprising approximately 75 percent of ticket sales and generating more than $1 billion for the Educational Enhancement Trust Fund in fiscal year 2019-20.
Florida Lottery offices are currently open to the public by appointment only for players with prizes valued at $600 or more.
Players can request a claim appointment at headquarters and district offices through the Lottery's website, at www.flalottery.com/howToClaim. Players can still utilize the secured drop box located at each district office or mail tickets to Florida Lottery Headquarters or a district office.
The Florida Lottery is responsible for contributing more than $38 billion to education and sending more than 880,000 students to college through the Bright Futures Scholarship Program. The Florida Lottery reinvests 99 percent of its revenue back into Florida's economy through prize payouts, commissions to more than 13,000 Lottery retailers, and transfers to education. Since 1988, Florida Lottery games have paid more than $72.5 billion in prizes and made nearly 3,000 people millionaires. For more information, please visit www.flalottery.com.
This article originally appeared on The Apalachicola Times: Wewa man wins $1 million, takes $700K
Meet the Editor
David Adlerstein, The Apalachicola Times’ digital editor, started with the news outlet in January 2002 as a reporter.
Prior to then, David Adlerstein began as a newspaperman with a small Boston weekly, after graduating magna cum laude from Brandeis University in Waltham, Massachusetts. He later edited the weekly Bellville Times, and as business reporter for the daily Marion Star, both not far from his hometown of Columbus, Ohio.
In 1995, he moved to South Florida, and worked as a business reporter and editor of Medical Business newspaper. In Jan. 2002, he began with the Apalachicola Times, first as reporter and later as editor, and in Oct. 2020, also began editing the Port St. Joe Star.