Mystery Woman Wins $500,000 Lotto Prize

Wednesday was an exceptionally lucky day for one customer at the Sweetbay Supermarket in Palm Harbor's East Lake community — she walked out of the store a half-million dollars richer.

Around 10 a.m., the woman bought two $20 Gold Rush scratch-off lottery tickets, then scratched them right there at the store. When she finished scratching, she showed the $500,000 winning ticket to a store clerk, and in a state of disbelief asked the clerk if it was actually a winning ticket, which it was.

"She was stunned; she was actually speechless," said Donny Jeffrey, Sweetbay Supermarket assistant manager.

Jeffrey says one of the numbers on the woman's scratch-off ticket was 24, which matched the number that corresponded to the $500,000 prize on the ticket.

Jeffrey says the woman wanted to know what she should do next. He had her sign the back of the ticket and told her she would need to redeem the winning ticket at the Florida Lottery headquarters in Tallahassee. 

Jeffrey escorted the woman out of the store to make sure she and the winning lottery ticket made it to her vehicle safely. Then she drove off. "She went home to tell her husband how rich they were," said Jeffrey, who chuckled as he recalled the chain of events.

The woman was actually $500,050 richer. The other $20 Gold Rush scratch-off ticket she bought turned out to be a $50 winner. No doubt, it was an exceptionally lucky day for her. 

What are the odds? According to the Florida Lottery website, the odds of winning the $500,000 prize in the Gold Rush scratch-off game are 1-in-1,512,000. The odds of winning a $50 prize in the same game are 1-in-30.