SARASOTA, Fla. — An Air Force veteran from the Tampa Bay area is nearly $1 million richer after buying a winning scratch-off lottery ticket.
Ricky Lansford, 68 of Sarasota, claimed a top prize of $1 million from the Florida Lottery's "The Fastest Road to $1,000,000 Scratch-Off" game.
The lottery says he chose to receive his winnings in a one-time, lump-sum totaling $790,000.
"We couldn't believe it!" Lansford said in a statement. "My wife and I noticed a lot of people winning $1 million from THE FASTEST ROAD TO $1,000,000 Scratch-Off game, so we decided to try our luck! Now we're celebrating our own big win!"
The Lottery says Lansford bought the winning ticket from a Shell Gas Station located at 3440 South Osprey Avenue in Sarasota.
The gas station will get a $2,000 bonus commission as a result of selling the winning scratch-off ticket.
The Lottery says "The Fastest Road to $1,000,000" is a $30 scratch-off game that was launched in February 2020. The game has 155 top prizes worth $1 million and more than $948 million in total cash prizes. The game's overall odds of winning are one-in-2.79, the Lottery says.
Scratch-off games account for about 75 percent of the Lottery's tickets sales, generating more than $1.3 billion for the Educational Enhancement Trust Fund (EETF) in fiscal year 2020-21.
