April Fool's Cash Find No Joke for Florida Man

April Fool’s turned out to be one lucky day for a 44-year-old man from Valrico.

It all started when Jonathan Kelso found a $5 bill on the ground. He picked up the found cash and decided to transform it into a scratch-off lottery ticket. He made his purchase at a Wawa store in Clearwater and watched as that purchase made his cash multiply.

It seems Kelso lucky day was even luckier than he thought. That ticket happened to be one of the grand-prize winners in the Florida Lottery’s new $500,000 Gold Rush game.

While Kelso was thrilled with the revelation, he had a little trouble getting his wife to join in the celebration.

“The hardest part was convincing my wife that we had won because it happened on April Fool’s Day,” the latest winner told lottery officials.

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The $500,000 Gold Rush game has more than 7.5 million prizes on the line ranging from $5 tickets to $10,000, according to the Florida Lottery. A total of 24 $500,000 tickets were issued with 14 of those remaining after Kelso’s win, the lottery stated in a media release. This scratch off game offers overall odds of winning set at one in 4.23.

Kelso isn’t the only recent Florida Lottery winner from the Tampa Bay area. Daniel Crumley, 37, of Plant City recently took home a $1 million prize in the 100X The Cash scratch-off game. Safety Harbor’s John Colaneri also won more than $272,000 in the Fantasy 5 game while Bradenton’s Jack Bennett brought home $1.6 million playing the Lucky Money game.

None of the recent winners, however, have a story that compares to Kelso. The only one that comes close is Bill Kelly’s $3 million. He, believe it not, bought that winning scratch-off ticket as a stocking stuffer for his dog this past Christmas.

What’s the biggest win you’ve had playing the lottery? Tell us by commenting below!

Photo courtesy of the Florida Lottery

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