TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WTXL) — A woman from Leon County has many reasons to celebrate.
The Florida Lottery announced Thursday Melanie Strickland, age 60 of Tallahassee, claimed a $1 million prize from the Gold Rush Limited Scratch-Off game at Lottery Headquarters in Tallahassee.
The Florida Lottery said Strickland chose to receive her winnings as a one-time, lump-sum payment of $795,000.00.
“I think I still can’t believe it,” Strickland said in a news release from the Florida Lottery. “I just wish my mom was here to see this.”
According to the lottery, Strickland recalled her mom collecting any spare pennies she found and placing them in a jar. Strickland’s morning at the Parkside Food and Gas was a routine pit stop, and after discovering her big win, Strickland went back to tell her friends. “When I stepped out of my car, the first thing I saw was a big, shiny penny. I picked it up in honor of my mom.”
The winning ticket was sold at Parkside Food and Gas, located at 1417 South Monroe Street in Tallahassee.
The store will receive a $2,000 bonus commission for selling the winning scratch-off ticket Gold Rush Limited.
The game is a $20 scratch-off ticket.
The Florida Lottery says scratch-off games are an important part of the Lottery's portfolio of games, comprising approximately 75 percent of ticket sales and generating more than $1.3 billion for the Educational Enhancement Trust Fund (EETF) in fiscal year 2020-21.
