Orlando man strikes gold in million-dollar scratch-off win

ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. — An Orange County man is a millionaire after striking gold and winning a $1 million prize from the GOLD RUSH LIMITED scratch-off game from the Florida Lottery.

▶ WATCH CHANNEL 9 EYEWITNESS NEWS

Efren Villamar Herrera, of Orlando, claimed the $1 million prize after purchasing his ticket from the Wawa located at 3100 South Orange Avenue.

The 56-year-old chose to receive his winnings as a one-time, lump-sum payment of $795,000.

Read: Instagram introduces new privacy, parental controls for users under 18

The store that sold the winning ticket received a $2,000 bonus commission.

The $20 game features 32 top prizes of $5 million and 100 prizes of $1 million, with additional tickets filled with more than 33,000 prizes of $1,000 to $100,000.

Read: Lovebugs are back: 9 facts about the bugs

Scratch-off games made up 74% of ticket sales in the 2023-2024 fiscal year.

Since their inception, scratch-off games have awarded more than $63.1 billion in prizes, created 2,175 millionaires, and generated more than $19.24 billion for the Education Enhancement Trust Fund.

Read: Harvest Moon: Full moon, supermoon and lunar eclipse in one event

The Florida Lottery is responsible for contributing more than $46 billion to enhance education and sending more than 983,000 students to college through the Bright Futures Scholarship Program.

Since 1988, Florida Lottery games have paid more than $95.7 billion in prizes and made more than 4,000 people millionaires, according to lottery officials.

Click here to download our free news, weather and smart TV apps. And click here to stream Channel 9 Eyewitness News live.

©2024 Cox Media Group