Have there been any big Florida Lottery, Mega Millions or Powerball winners on Christmas Day?
Plenty of people around Florida may have opened envelopes Christmas morning to find tickets for the Florida Lottery, Powerball or Mega Millions. Powerball was an especially good choice as there's a drawing on Christmas night, with an estimated jackpot of $638 million. Merry Christmas!
But have there been big lottery jackpots on Christmas before? Has Santa ever brought a sleighful of money to a lucky Floridian?
The odds seem to be against you. Even more than usual, I mean. Here are the numbers.
Has anyone in Florida ever won the Powerball on Christmas Day?
No. According to the Florida Lottery data, there has never been a Powerball winner in Florida on Dec. 25.
There was a big Florida winner the day after, though. Christopher McGurren of St. Petersburg, the fifth Powerball winner in Florida, won $50 million in the Dec. 26, 2012 drawing and took the $32,446,463.34 lump sum payout.
Elsewhere there have been just three Christmas Day Powerball winners:
Kevin Carlson and his wife, name withheld, of Kansas City Missouri won $71.5 million on Dec. 25, 2013, and took the lump sum of $39,875,184.78.
Rob and Tuesday Anderson of central Kentucky, who won $128.6 million on a ticket he bought on Christmas Eve, 2009, that was printed out by mistake. They took the $63,456,864.77 in cash.
Jeffrey and Christine Pintuff, of Wilton, New York, claimed a $48.8 million prize from a Christmas Day drawing in 2010. They took the lump sum of $24,856,581.43. Tragically, Christine Pintuff died of cancer the next year,
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Has anyone in Florida ever won Mega Millions on Christmas Day?
No. In fact, according to the Mega Millions site, no one has ever won a big jackpot on Christmas Day.
There have been three $1 million winners around the country on Christmas Eves:
Richard DeMay of Monroe, Mississippi, Dec. 24, 2021
Audel Acevedo of Mesa, Arizona, Dec. 24, 2013
Elizabeth Parker of Lombard, Illinois, Dec. 24, 2013
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Has anyone won the Florida Lottery on Christmas Day?
Yes! There have been six big Florida Lottery winners on Dec. 25s since it began in 1988:
Darren Joseph Martini of Cape Coral won $41 million on Christmas last year with a quick pick from the Publix at 3015 Pine Island Road SW. He took the lump sum of $24,559,929.33.
Someone under the name 15th Avenue South LLC of Jacksonville claimed a $3.52 million jackpot for a winning ticket bought at Publix at 408 Beach Blvd., Suite 100, in Jacksonville Beach. They took the lump sum of $2,585,147.83.
There were three Christmas Day winners in 2002. Harold J. Rooks of Jacksonville Beach, Harold K. Richter of Delray Beach, and Leticia Waldrop of Santa Rosa Beach all split a $10 million jackpot. Rooks and Richter each took the lump sum of $2,287,993.17, and Waldrop opted for the 30-year annual prize of $10 million.
Joseph P. Crowley of Boca Raton won $20.2 million on Christmas Day, 1993, with a ticket purchased at Pointe Stationers at 6030 Southwest 18th Street.
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This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Florida Lottery, Mega Millions, Powerball: Any Christmas winners?
