Lottery player buys $50 scratch-off at Publix in Florida — and gets life-changing win

A trip to a Publix store changed a man’s life when he walked out with a Florida lottery ticket worth enough money to buy a big house and a small Lamborghini.

Newton Waldron of Fort Myers forked over $50 for a 500X THE CASH Scratch-Off ticket and discovered it was worth $1 million, according to a Nov. 26 Florida Lottery news release.

Odds of winning $1 million in the game are 1-in-274,004.

Waldron was given the choice of taking his cash in small installments or getting a big lump sum. He went with the lump sum, which came out to $640,000 after tax withholdings, lottery officials said.

His prize, while massive, does not qualify as a jackpot in the game.

The top prize is $25 million — the largest offered in a Florida scratch-off game — and the odds of winning are a stunning 1-in-21,920,355. The game was launched in January with two top prizes and neither has been won.

Waldron got his ticket at the Publix on North Tamiami Trail in North Fort Myers, according to lottery officials, and the grocery store gets a $2,000 bonus for selling it.

This story was originally published November 27, 2024 at 11:27 AM with the headline "Lottery player buys $50 scratch-off at Publix in Florida — and gets life-changing win."