Florida Lottery Winner Shares Experience of How an Unruly Customer Helped His Lucky Win

By Jessica Whitehouse,
Editor at online-gambling.com

Jessica Whitehouse Editor at online-gambling.com

Jessica Whitehouse is a content expert and editor from Santa Monica, California. At online-gambling.com, she focuses on roulette, blackjack reviews, lottery, and casino payments. Whitehouse is also our leading go-to expert in online gambling in South Africa. In addition, she provides the photo materials for most articles on the site.

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Last updated: February 4, 2023

A winner of the Florida Lottery has said that his lucky win may not have happened if not for the rowdy customer who cut the line right in front of him. 43-year-old Stephen Espinoza recently visited the Publix supermarket in Delray Beach. He reported that another customer cut in line while he was waiting in line to buy a ticket at the self-service lottery machine of the store.

Espinoza chose to move to the counter of the customer service instead of telling the unruly customer that he was waiting to use the machine. He spent $50 on a “500x The Cash” scratch-off, and it paid off. Stephen Espinoza won $1 million, which is the second-best prize in the game. The lottery game has 160 $1 million prizes in each print run. The chances of winning the 7-digit sum are 0.00000373% or one in 267,739.

Espinoza Winnings Validates the Statement That “It Pays to Be Patient”

The patience of Espinoza resulted in him winning $1 million. He chose the $820,000 one-time lump-sum payout. Espinoza’s winnings will be subject to federal tax. The federal income tax rate for those who earn $539,901 or above in a single year is 37%, and this is presently the highest tax bracket. Espinoza receives $303,400 less after federal taxes, meaning he will get a total payout of $516,600. He is receiving more than half a million dollars for a gamble that almost did not happen.

Florida does not tax Espinoza any further since it does not consider winnings from lottery as taxable income. While Espinoza was lucky not to have won the $1 million in one of the 36 states that tax lottery winnings, he was not allowed to be anonymous as Florida laws prevent lottery winners from remaining anonymous. Espinoza was comfortable with disclosing his identity publicly. He says that he will buy his family a house with some of the winnings. The Florida Lottery will give the Publix that sold the ticket of $1 million a $2,000 bonus commission.

Extravagant Scratch-Offs Tickets Offered by the US Lottery

Scratch-off tickets are available from the Florida Lottery for sale prices that range from $1 to $50. The state’s only $50 scratch-off product is the “500x The Cash.” The most expensive scratch-off in the US was introduced by the Texas Lottery last year. Its “$20 million Supreme” game goes for $100 per scratch-off, and there is no “break-even” price. $20 million is the richest price, and the lowest price is a $150win.

There are four $20 million winners in each print of the Texas Lottery “$20 million Supreme” game. September saw the scratching off of the first winner. One in 2.55 million is the chance of winning one of the $20 million prizes. One in 7.5 is the chances of winning one of the 1.36 million wins of $150. In terms of interest, the lottery is one of the most popular forms of gaming all around the world for years. Regardless of the location, people like purchasing lottery tickets to try out their luck. However, Florida has not yet legalized online lottery sales as of writing of this article.