Fort Pierce - Wednesday May 11, 2022: 22 year old Karen Melendez Escalante won a $1-million prize playing the Florida Lotto's Gold Rush Limited scratch off game. She claimed the prize at the Florida Lottery headquarters in Tallahassee on Wednesday choosing to receive her winnings as a one-time, lump-sum payment of $795,000.00.
Escalante purchased her winning ticket from the Causeway Food and Beverage store located at 1998 North U.S. Highway 1 in Fort Pierce. The retailer will receive a $2,000 bonus commission for selling the winning Scratch-Off ticket.
The $20 Gold Rush Limited scratch-off game was launched in September 2021. It features 32 top prizes of $5 million, 100 prizes $1 million prizes, as well as 33,000 other prizes ranging from $1,000 to $100,000 The game’s overall odds of winning are 1-in-2.65.
Scratch-off games comprise approximately 75 percent of ticket sales. They generated more than $1.3 billion for the Florida Educational Enhancement Trust Fund (EETF) in fiscal year 2020-21.
Overall, the Florida Lottery has contributed ore than $41 billion to enhance education in the state and it has sent more than 917,000 students to college through the Bright Futures Scholarship Program.