Ashley Hunter
ECB Publishing, Inc.
Everyone dreams, at some point or another, of winning big in the lottery – and for a Jefferson County man, that dream has now become a reality.
On Friday, April 19, the Florida Lottery announced that Carl Madison, 60, of Monticello, was one of the lotto's newest winners.
According to the press release issued by Florida Lottery Communications, Madison purchased a $5 Gold Rush Classic scratch-off game ticket at a Tallahassee gas station located off Capital Circle Southeast.
The scratch-off ticket was loaded with winning numbers, making Madison $1,000,000 richer.
On Wednesday, April 17, Madison and his family gathered at the Tallahassee Florida Lotteryh
Headquarters in order for Madison to collect his lump-sum winnings and pose with representatives of the Florida Lottery for pictures.
The $5 game, $1,000,000 Gold Rush Classic, launched in January and offers more than $200.5 million in prizes, including 32 top prizes of $1 million.
The game's overall odds of winning are 1-in-3.97.
Scratch-offs are an important part of the Florida Lottery's portfolio of games, as they generated more than $871 million for the Educational Enhancement Trust Fund (EETF) in 2017-18, and comprised of approximately 69 percent of ticket sales.
The Florida Lottery is responsible for contributing more than $35 billion to education and sending more than 808,000 students to college through the Bright Futures Scholarship Program.
The Florida Lottery reinvests 98 percent of its revenue back into Florida's economy through prize payouts, commissions to more than 13,000 Florida retailers and transfers to education.
Since 1988, Florida Lottery games have paid more than $61.2 billion in prizes and made more than 2,000 people millionaires. For more information, please visit flalottery.com.