A Lady Lake man is $500,000 richer, thanks to the Florida Lottery.
Jose Hernandez Hernandez won the first top prize in the Extra Play scratch-off game after purchasing the ticket at the Lady Lake Chevron Quick Mart, located at 201 N. Hwy. 27/441. He claimed his prize at Florida Lottery Headquarters in Tallahassee.
The $5 scratch-off game offers more than $58 million in cash prizes, including eight top payouts of $500,000. The game’s overall odds of winning are 1-3.99.
Scratch-off games like the one the 35-year-old Hernandez participated in comprise about 69 percent of lottery ticket sales and generated more than $871 million for the state’s Educational Enhancement Trust Fund in fiscal year 2017-18 alone.
Overall, the Florida Lottery is responsible for contributing more than $33 billion to education and sending more than 775,000 students to college through the Bright Futures Scholarship Program. The lottery reinvests 98 percent of its revenue back into Florida’s economy through prize payouts, commissions to more than 13,000 Florida retailers and contributions to education. Since 1988, Florida Lottery games have paid more than $56.3 billion in prizes and made more than 2,000 people millionaires.
For more information, see www.flalottery.com.