Community Corner

Will You Buy Holiday Lottery Tickets?

The Florida Lottery introduces a series of holiday scratch-off tickets with special gift envelopes for giving.

Call it the gift that keeps giving – at least for the lucky winners.

Florida Lottery officials are offering a series of holiday scratch-off tickets with names like "Gingerbread Dough" and encouraging folks to buy them as stocking stuffers. That's right – lottery tickets as Christmas gifts!

Florida Lottery ticket sales already are at an all-time high. Last week's mega Powerball jackpot of more than $500 million brought thousands of new players to the lottery, officials say. One-day sales of tickets in Florida on Wednesday, Nov. 28, the day of the drawing, topped $49 million.

Find out what's happening in Sarasotawith free, real-time updates from Patch.

“In our nearly 25 years of operations, the Florida Lottery has never seen a week like we saw last week,” said Florida Lottery Secretary Cynthia O’Connell.

With the popularity in playing the lottery, state officials are encouraging folks to buy special lottery scratch-off tickets as holiday gifts. Here is information from the Florida Lottery web site:

Find out what's happening in Sarasotawith free, real-time updates from Patch.

"For just $1, you can purchase HOLIDAY CASH. The $2 Scratch-Off games HAPPY HOLIDAYS and the wonderfully scented GINGERBREAD DOUGH feature top prizes of $25,000 each. The $5 game HOLIDAY MAGIC offers top prizes of $250,000. Or, play the $10 game $1,000,000 WISHES for the chance to win $1 million!

"Lottery retailers will also provide specially-designed holiday gift envelopes for purchases of $5 or more, so customers can buy and "wrap" their Florida Lottery gifts with just one stop."

The Florida Lottery reinvests nearly 98 percent of evenue into the state’s economy through prize payouts, contributions to education, and money paid to Florida retailers, according to the lottery website. It's easy to buy a lottery ticket in Sarasota. There are 164 retailers, including Publix and 7-Elevent, that sell the tickets. You can even search for retailers by zipcode or city to find a place nearby to buy lottery tickets!

Here is the payoff for the holiday lottery games:

Game Price Top Prize Overall Odds HOLIDAY CASH $1.00 $1,000 1-in-4.86 HAPPY HOLIDAYS $2.00 $25,000 1-in-4.36 GINGERBREAD DOUGH $2.00 $25,000 1-in-4.38 HOLIDAY MAGIC $5.00 $250,000 1-in-4.05 $1,000,000 WISHES $10.00 $1,000,000 1-in-3.26


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