Florida Lottery Player Wins $5M from Scratch-Off Ticket

The Florida Lottery announced on October 5 that a lucky player in Hillsborough County has won an amazing seven-figure prize from one of its scratch-off games. The winner visited the lottery HQ to claim her winnings and opted to receive the lump sum instead of the annuity. Tampa Woman Scooped Up $5M from the Lottery In its announcement, the Florida Lottery revealed Mercedes Nunes, 34, as the winner of a top prize from one of its scratchers. The Tampa woman won $5 million from the 200X The Cash scratch-off game, turning her into the state’s latest millionaire. According to the lottery’s official release, the winning ticket was purchased from Murphy USA, located at 1405 W. 15th Street in Panama City. The Florida Lottery confirmed that Nunes visited the Florida Lottery HQ in Tallahassee on June 29. When presented with a choice between an annuitized option for the full sum and a lump-sum payment of $2,779,400, she went with the latter. For reference, the 200X The Cash game, which earned Nunes this unforgettable payout, is a $20 scratch-off game featuring top prizes of $5 million. The overall odds of winning any prize, including break-evens, are 1 in 2.96. The odds of winning a top prize, on the other hand, are 1 in 5,276,993. At launch, the game featured eight top prizes. As of the time of this writing, only four of those remain unclaimed. In addition to that, the 200X The Cash game also featured 20 second-tier prizes of $100,000, only 11 of which are still in the game. More Players in the State Have Been Winning Big A few weeks ago, a player in Florida also won big. Unlike Nunes, the player in question was enjoying the Powerball game and hit a $1 million payout after matching all five winning numbers for that drawing. More recently, a player in Florida matched all five white numbers in the Mega Ball game and, thanks to their 3x multiplier, took home a prize of $3 million.