LAKE PLACID, Fla. — One Highland County woman's 2024 is off to a spectacular start as she won a $1 million prize by playing a scratch-off from the Florida lottery.
According to a press release, 67-year-old Barbara Arneson won the $1,000,000 prize from the $50 "$1,000,000 a Year for Life Spectacular" game. She chose to receive her winnings as a one-time, lump-sum payment of $640,000.
The store where she is said to have bought her ticket, a Sunshine Food Mart located off US Highway 27 North in Lake Placid, will receive a $2,000 bonus commission for selling the winning scratch-off.
As you may have guessed from the name, the grand prize from the "$1,000,000 a Year for Life Spectacular" game is just that: $1 million a year for life. There are two grand prizes within the game, and 234 prizes of $1 million, which Arneson won.
"This game also features more than $1.6 billion in cash prizes," the press release from the Florida Lottery reads. "The game's overall odds of winning are 1-in-4.50."
As of this writing on Jan. 17, the game's website says there is just one grand prize remaining and 135 $1 million prizes remaining. Players can also earn prizes of $50,000, $20,000, $10,000, $5,000, $1,000, $500 and $100. The odds of winning the lowest prize are 1-in-5, while the odds of winning the grand prize are much, much lower at 1-in-21,727,995.
The Florida Lottery says that, since its inception, scratch-off games have "generated more than $18.39 billion for the Educational Enhancement Trust Fund. Since 1988, the Florida Lottery has paid more than $91.2 billion in prizes", and "made more than 3,800 people millionaires."
